Is Mexican President López Obrador The Country's Strongst Presidnet In Decades?

Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador attends a news conference, at the National Palace in Mexico City, Mexico, May 21, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Romero

Mary Beth Sheridan, The Washington Post: Mexico has its strongest president in decades. Some say he's too strong.

SAN MIGUEL CANOA, Mexico - Elsewhere, Latin America is burning.

In other places - Chile, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador - presidents are besieged by demonstrators.

But when Mexico's leader rolled into this mountain town one recent Friday, the crowds were adoring. Peasants walked for miles to greet him. Angel Roldán Pérez, a 62-year-old farmer in a red baseball cap, had recently received a singular blessing: an agricultural grant of $84.

"It was the president," the farmer insisted. "He helped us. Before, they wouldn't give us the aid. There was a lot of corruption."

A year after taking office, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador looms larger than any Mexican president in decades - setting the nation's agenda with daily news conferences, reshaping the government with a drastic overhaul of the budget and introducing a raft of programs to help farmers, the elderly and students.

His approval ratings regularly top 60 percent, in a region where many leaders struggle to reach half that.

And yet, as the veteran leftist consolidates power, critics worry he is threatening some of Mexico's hard-won democratic gains. They say López Obrador is weakening institutions that safeguard human rights and clean elections and is exerting more control over funding to the states.

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WNU Editor: If he is so strong, why can't he do something about the criminal insurgency by the drug cartels? Mexico is not a safe country for its citizens or visitors, and it has gotten even more dangerous in the past year. As for the economy, it has been stagnant for the entire year .... Mexico’s economy has not been this weak relative to the US since the ‘Tequila crisis’ in the 1990s (CNBC). In fact, it is now in a recession .... Mexico entered recession in early 2019, dealing blow to president (Reuters). But I have been told that Mexicans are giving him the benefit of the doubt for now, and they are applauding his social programs and personal austerity. Considering how much the political establishment has messed up Mexico in the past two decades, I can understand why many in Mexico are hoping the best from Mexican President López Obrador. In their minds he cannot do worse.