The veteran left-wing politician Andrés Manuel López Obrador won Mexico’s presidential election last Sunday, securing a landslide victory. His 53-per-cent share of the vote was more than double that of his closest rival.
López Obrador, known by his initials Amlo, has presented himself as an agent of change. In his speech to supporters in Mexico City on Sunday night, he made an early reference to the tensions that have dogged relations with the US over President Donald Trump’s enforcement of strict immigration policies.
He said he would forge a new relationship with the US “rooted in mutual respect and in defence of our migrant countrymen who work and live honestly in that country”. He added that migration should be done by choice, not out of necessity, and promised to “strengthen the internal market to try to produce in the country what we consume, so that Mexicans can work and be happy where they were born, where their family is, where their customs and their cultures are”.
The President-elect also promised to tackle violence and wipe out corruption, which he blamed on “a political regime in decay”.
“We are absolutely certain that this evil is the principal cause of social inequality and economic inequality,” he said. “Because of corruption, violence has erupted in our country.”
He added that he would pursue a peace plan with the United Nations, human rights groups and religious organisations to reduce the murder rate. In 2017, soaring levels of drugs violence brought it to 29,168, the highest on record.
The Mexican bishops’ conference released a press statement saying: “We are all called to collaborate in a positive form with our elected authorities ... Government and society, working together, can achieve great things”.
(See Richard Cockett, page 10.)
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