Leftist Andres Manuel López Obrador is sworn into office. He is the first Leftist President of Mexico in 70 years.
Anti-establishment and anti-corruption Leftist leader Andres Manuel López Obrador was officially sworn in as Mexico’s President on Saturday. He has sworn “deep and radical” change in Mexico. It was a landslide victory that he won in July, and he now stands as the President of the party Morena, which currently enjoys strong majorities in both the houses.
“It might seem pretentious or exaggerated to say it, but today is not just the start of a new government. It is the start of a political regime change,” he said. “We will carry out a peaceful and orderly but also deep and radical transformation.”
As per the Mexican tradition, a newly elect head heads to the Mexico City’s square, the Zocalo, and is presented with a symbolic chieftain’s staff by a shaman. As he clutched the staff, he swore that he would herald a transformative change the country needs, and said that “I reaffirm my commitment not to lie, rob or betray the Mexican people.” Mexico is struggling with problems of corruption, violence fuelled by the war on drug cartels, and the caravan of 6,000 Central American migrants camped at the US-Mexican border; and a increasingly hostile northern neighbour. He has reduced his own salary by 60 percent and will also launch an austerity drive in a bid to tackle the corruption. He has also cancelled the plan of constructing a new airport for Mexico City, which is already half-complete and costs $13 billion.
Analysts say López Obrador cleaves to a vision of Mexico from previous decades, when state planning was paramount and the private sector was subservient to the president – something that’s shifted as Mexico abandoned a closed economy for free and open trade.
