He considers that 2 and a half years after his administration, the gap between the president’s campaign promises and his actions is widening.
The left-wing US media The Nation considered President Andrés Manuel López Obrador “has been a disappointment” for the world and for Mexico “it has been much worse”; in addition to criticizing its policy of austerity, militarization, and lack of support for the feminist movement.
According to the text written by Dawn Paley, López Obrador has not supported, nor encouraged, the growing women’s movement, which is pushing for access to legal and free abortion, as well as a radical structural change to end the violence.
“The López Obrador government instituted gender parity in the cabinet, but the president has neither supported nor encouraged the growing women’s movement, which is pushing for access to free and legal abortion and radical structural change to end state and domestic violence ”.
Likewise, The Nation points out that in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, government aid to small businesses in Mexico has been scarce.
“A survey last summer found that 61% of businesses said they needed financial help, but only 5.4% had received government support. Several states of Mexico have intervened to offer economic assistance, but they have not been able to reach many ”, he says.
In this sense, he states that it was until December that the federal government announced specific cash assistance for the pandemic for citizens: a payment of 570 to cover funeral expenses in the event that a family member dies from Covid- 19 ″.
He also questions the handling of the pandemic, in fact, recalls that last June, López Obrador said that, along with social distancing, a proper diet, and good hygiene, ‘ do not lie, do not steal and do not cheat’ helped prevent the infection”.
The Nation believes that 2 1/2 years after his administration, the gap between the president’s campaign promises and his actions is widening.
“He has pushed for austerity in the public sector and has refused to introduce new taxes on the rich or give in on his promise to avoid incurring new debt, even amid the health and economic crises caused by the pandemic,” he says.
The magazine questions the militarization of the country, recalls that at the beginning of his term, López Obrador ignored a diverse coalition of more than 300 civil society organizations that demanded that the National Guard be a civil force, as stipulated in the Constitution.
In addition, soldiers are currently building the new Mexico City airport and laying tracks for a section of the Mayan Train, building thousands of new banks, and helping with social programs and vaccine distribution.
“The Marines, an elite military force with close ties to the United States, now control the ports of Mexico; and the National Guard has been made responsible, along with the Army, for monitoring non-Mexican migrants who travel to the north of the United States, ”he says.
It also recalls the case of General Salvador Cienfuegos, who was Secretary of Defense when the normalistas disappeared, who was arrested on drug trafficking charges in Los Angeles.
“The president initially stated that anyone involved in criminal activities in the military would be investigated and punished. But his statement of responsibility in the ranks quickly sounded hollow: the United States deported Cienfuegos back to Mexico in November, and only a few weeks later the attorney general of Mexico cleared him of all charges. “
The US media states that the disappearances “tragically” have not stopped, since the number of people reported in the country since 2006 now amounts to more than 85,000, of which more than 37,800 since López Obrador took office, of which that more than 16,000 have yet to be found.
He also considers that the construction of a refinery in Tabasco and the purchase of part of another in Houston, Texas, “serves as an example of how his politics sometimes seems to be informed by the desire to go back to the past, before the free trade and privatization will destroy Mexico’s national oil company.
“However, trying to return to the oil-driven prosperity of the past means turning a blind eye to the urgent need to reduce fossil fuel extraction and emissions.”
The media highlights that “the focus on infrastructure projects such as the new airport, the Mayan Train, and the trans-isthmian corridor reflect what for some is an outdated and even colonial mode of politics.”
Source: thenation.com
