By Natalia Holliday, Editor-in-Chief
On July 1, 2018, Mexico elected its newest president after an election season pocked by murders of over 100 politicians.[1] Perhaps taking note of the 30,000 murders across the country in 2017 –primarily related to rampant drug cartels[2] – Mexico’s frustrated citizenry chose Andrés Manuel López Obrador, or AMLO to the locals, as their incoming leader.
The man some have heralded as “Mexico’s answer to Donald Trump”[3] and who declared that Mexico will not be “the piñata of any foreign government”[4] is due to take office on December 1.[5] AMLO won the presidency by an enormous margin – 30 points – as Mexicans turned out to vote in historic numbers.[6] He was the first president in three decades to attract more than half the overall votes.[7]
So who is this man who often berates the current Mexican government as the “Mafia del Poder” (“Mafia of Power”)?[8]
AMLO ran as the representative for the coalition Juntos Haremos Historia (“Together we will make history”), which is comprised of:
- the economically leftist party Partido del Trabajo (“the Labor Party”);
- the socially right-wing party Partido Encuentro Social (the “Social Encounter Party”); and
- AMLO’s own Movimiento de Regeneración Nacional (the “National Regeneration Movement”), which he began in 2014 and stands hard as a “nationalist, democratic, and neoliberal movement” against governmental corruption.[9] [10]
Even with the impressive win, AMLO’s detractors describe him as an “Hugo Chavez-style authoritarian” with outdated nationalistic and protectionist economic policies that can only set Mexico’s economy into a regressive spiral.[11] During the campaign, the then-candidate penned a letter to El Financiero, the Mexican national newspaper specializing in economics, finance, business, and politics.[12] In his letter, AMLO countered accusations of antiquation with an assurance that his economic model, while resembling one of an older but successful era, would be fine-tuned to fit today’s conditions.[13] He emphasized Mexico’s globalization, the emergence of new social rights, and a “vertiginous technological transformation.”[14]
In the letter, he also declared the end of election fraud and the beginning of Mexico’s “unquestionable democracy.”[15] His primary focus was the absolute end of government corruption, which he asserted propagates the horrific violence and malaise impairing the nation.[16]
In terms of foreign affairs with the United States, AMLO intends to work with President Trump.[17] He hopes to convince the American President “of his contemptuous and wrong attitudes toward Mexicans” and is willing to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement for the mutual benefit of both nations.[18] “In summary,” he writes, “we consider that the social problems that affect bilateral relations cannot be resolved with walls or with the use of force, but rather with development and well-being.”[19]
While AMLO may be considered the polar opposite of President Trump in policy, the two leaders are not so dissimilar in personality. The 2018 election was AMLO’s third go at the Mexican presidency.[20] In the 2006 election, he lost by just about half a percentage point but refused to concede.[21] Instead, he deemed himself the legitimate victor, “had himself inaugurated, and set up a parallel government” in the nation’s capital, where his supporters took up residence in the streets.[22] Furthermore, much of AMLO’s success has been credited with his painting himself as a political outsider, ready to take on the current government swamp – to borrow a President Trump term.[23]
While American liberals may be rejoicing over the new leader as a prime example of what the United States could be politically, AMLO does not have an easy task ahead of him. Average per capita income in Mexico decreased by 10.5% from 2008 to 2014, and continues to steadily decline; 39% of workers do not make enough income to pay for a basket of basic food; millions of dollars in government funds allotted for national welfare go mysteriously missing without explanation.[24]
Still, the fascinating juxtaposition of the two North American leaders all but guarantees that President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration will have a significant impact the United States. Our relations will undoubtedly be affected, but a more interesting point of observation will be whether AMLO’s presidency can be a model, or a warning sign, to the United States.
Sources
[1] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/06/entire-ocampo-police-force-detained-candidate-murder-180625071902533.html
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/25/as-mexico-election-nears-candidates-show-no-sound-plans-to-stem-violence
[3] https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/06/mexico-obrador-election-trump-nafta-pena-nieto/563993/
[4] http://www.as-coa.org/articles/explainer-mexicos-2018-election-and-presidential-candidates
[5] https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2018/07/05/will-amlo-deliver
[6] http://www.as-coa.org/content/guide-2018-latin-american-elections/mexico?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6JyKhtue3AIVwpyzCh1AFw4sEAAYASAAEgJAUfD_BwE
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9s_Manuel_L%C3%B3pez_Obrador#Juntos_Haremos_Historia
[10] https://www.bakerinstitute.org/political-parties-mexico/
[11] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/07/who-is-amlo-mexico-andres-manuel-lopez-obrador-election
[12] http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fes.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FEl_Financiero_(peri%25C3%25B3dico)
[13] http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.elfinanciero.com.mx%2Feconomia%2Famlo-pide-a-inversionistas-confiar-en-el
[14] Id.
[15] Id.
[16] Id.
[17] Id.
[18] Id.
[19] Id.
[20] http://www.as-coa.org/articles/explainer-mexicos-2018-election-and-presidential-candidates
[21] Id.
[22] Id.
[23] http://americasquarterly.org/content/how-mexicos-economy-helped-get-amlo-elected
[24] Id.
