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As 2021 draws to a close and the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) reaches its halfway point, the president has achieved at least one of his principal objectives: He is the only topic in Mexico. In Trumpian fashion, AMLO has extinguished any hope that anything constructive will be accomplished during his reign, and all subjects now revolve around him. ‘AMLO is a catastrophe, we are doomed!’ ‘AMLO is a saint, we are delivered!’ And on a more mundane level, will AMLO let anyone do business in this country, other than his protected devotees (who are making bank while the going is good)? He has become a political Santa Claus, who knows who’s been naughty (the private sector) and who’s been nice (the military and anyone professing blind fealty to him), and he will continue to stuff the stockings of the nice with gifties like newly-created public enterprises and juicy no-tender contracts, while the coal will keep coming for the naughty. Continue reading Mexico facing three more years of torpor under AMLO
Tag Archives: Ricardo Monreal
Mexico’s 2024 succession battle taking shape
There was a lot at stake for Mexico in the June 6 mid-term election, about which much ink has been spilled here and abroad. As it happened, the Mexican electorate failed to hand President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) the super-majority needed for him to steamroll the opposition and take Mexico all the way back to his beloved 1970s. Instead, we have now entered part two of the tug-of-war over the nationalization of the energy industry and the concentration of political power in the hands of one party, Mr. López Obrador’s National Regeneration Movement (Morena). For those of us who do not share the president’s nostalgia for the glory days of the Soviet Union, the outcome of the June 6 election was something of a relief after a lengthy run-up of nail-biting, what-if-ing and generally fraught conjecture over a possible Morena landslide. As our reward, we may now begin handicapping the selection process for Morena’s candidate to succeed the Dear Leader. Continue reading Mexico’s 2024 succession battle taking shape
Willy nilly Morena rattling nerves and markets
The presidency of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) is already starting to feel like a slog, and it hasn’t even begun yet. López Obrador was elected in July and is set to begin his six-year term on December 1, but it certainly feels like he’s president already and an embattled one at that. Memory can be hazy but it seems to us that in prior transition years, the president-elect maintained a far lower profile during the five-month period between election and inauguration and took care not to overshadow the sitting president. That may be because in the past the transitions were largely between PRI administrations, or between the PRI and the PAN, which aren’t much different anyway. Continue reading Willy nilly Morena rattling nerves and markets