Mexico Under AMLO Is Entering A New And Troubling Era

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador

Paul Imison, Politico: It’s a New and Troubling Era in Mexico Under AMLO

MEXICO CITY—Some welcomed the return of the left to the height of political power in Mexico nearly a year ago as a promising new chapter in the country’s history. Yet 12 months into Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s presidency, drug violence and attacks on freedom of speech have spiralled and the economy has stagnated, adding to the sense that Mexico is floundering. While all these challenges existed before AMLO—as he is better known in Mexico—took office, the bigger concern now is the way his government is seeking to address them.

There is no mistaking that this is a new era for Mexican politics. Gone are the globally minded, centrist administrations that swapped power in the years following Mexico’s transition from one-party rule to free elections in the 1990s. In their place is a self-styled champion of the people whose inward-looking economic vision harkens back to the country’s statist past. AMLO openly dismisses a role for experts and civil society in policymaking, calling them “neoliberal nostalgics,” while lacing his public rhetoric with an almost religious call of devotion to his presidency—all with the passionate approval of his unwavering political base.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: It is definitely a new era in Mexico. The voters were very clear when they elected Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador last year that they were repudiating the political establishment in Mexico City, and a desire for something new. Unfortunately, this new approach is not working. My prediction. Mexicans are still going to give Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador another year or two for his policies and direction to work. But if his policies do not work (which I believe they will not), the blow-back against him will be huge.