The national and foreign trips of former President Enrique Peña Nieto cost 342 million pesos during his first 3 years of government.
The President of the Republic, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, changed traveling on the TP-02 presidential plane and comfortable helicopters for being in tourist class seats within the framework of an austerity policy that shows its first benefits and budget savings in its three years of government.
Only 38 golden trips made by Enrique Peña Nieto on the presidential plane TP-02 “President Juárez” represent everything spent on López Obrador’s work tours so far in his term, reveal the invoices of the trips held by Forbes Mexico.
The founder of Morena, his assistant, social communication team and other companions from the Office of the Presidency spent 18 million 916 thousand pesos on weekend tours of the different cities of the Mexican Republic and the United States carried out from 1 December 2018 until December 31, 2021.
The expenses made by the Presidential General Staff in security and logistics activities in support of the national tours of former President Enrique Peña Nieto were 342 million pesos during his first three years in office.
From December 1, 2012, to December 31, 2015, the former president used 148 million pesos to pay for government tours during various entities of the Mexican Republic.
The government of Enrique Peña Nieto also spent more than 9,679,000 dollars, which at an exchange rate of 20 pesos per dollar, is equivalent to more than 193,593,000 pesos.
Since assuming power, López Obrador has traveled on commercial flights of airlines such as Volaris, VivaAerobus, and Aero Calafia, which have overcome the crisis due to the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as Aeroméxico, Aeromar, and Interjet, companies that have had severe economic problems. because of the recession.
More than 1,174 days had to pass since he assumed power for the Tabasco politician to use planes from the Mexican Air Force (FAM) and thus participate in inaugurations and rallies in the north of the Mexican Republic.
On February 18, 2022, López Obrador traveled aboard a plane operated by the Mexican Air Force from Chihuahua to Coahuila.
The President of the Republic arrived in Ciudad Juárez on a commercial flight: “Yes, I arrived yesterday by Aeroméxico,” he replied.
“Since there are no flights, I am going to travel by helicopter and an Air Force plane on this route, on this tour, to Nuevo Laredo, since there is already a commercial flight there,” said the president, who ordered the sale of all the airplanes used by Enrique Peña Nieto and his officials, who used them both for national and international tours as well as to go play golf and move from their homes to their jobs.
The presidential plane TP-02 “President Juárez”, a Boeing 757-225 aircraft from 1987, was used to carry out national and international tours in the first four years of Enrique Peña Nieto’s government.
The plane, which was auctioned by the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, was acquired during the six-year term of Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado.
The plane, which was under the protection of the Sixth Air Group of the Mexican Air Force at the Mexico City International Airport, has a capacity for 70 passengers and 9 crew members, and was sold for 63,914,000 pesos.
“Imagine, there are no longer private planes, private helicopters, I was not going to get on the presidential plane, a very luxurious plane with so much poverty in our town, I perched on a plane that even Donald Trump does not have,” commented the head of the Executive on May 26, 2019.
“They even used the helicopters to go play golf. All of that is over, all of that means having resources to strengthen productive, fundamental activities,” he added.
López Obrador’s first announcement was to sell the presidential plane purchased by former President Felipe Calderón, known as José María Morelos y Pavón. During the campaign, he had drawn a criticism of the presidential plane and the use of aircraft against the government of Enrique Peña Nieto, who had at his disposal a plane with marble finishes, leather seats and an entire army of men and women at his disposal. office.
The Boeing 787, which in its official activity made 214 trips, has been parked at the Southern California Logistics Airport in the United States since the first day.
López Obrador also ordered the disappearance of the Presidential General Staff, an entity where there were 8 thousand soldiers dedicated to the care of the Executive. Now he is only accompanied by his assistant in charge of Daniel Asaf, a restaurateur of Lebanese origin and former candidate for the Legislative Assembly of Mexico City.
“We are going to make a government that works every day at ground level, in communication with the people and all luxuries will end,” said the Tabasco politician at a rally on March 30, 2016, in Camargo, Tamaulipas.
That same day, the three-time presidential candidate promised to sell all the fleets of government planes and helicopters, which included the luxury planes of Enrique Peña Nieto, the then Secretary of Defense, Salvador Cienfuegos, and the Attorney General’s Office. (PGR).
After the purchase of the new presidential plane, it was necessary to expand the hangar located at the Mexico City International Airport (AICM), which cost one billion pesos and the person in charge of the construction was Peña Nieto’s compadre, Tamaulipas Armando Hinojosa Cantu.
On February 10, 2016, Enrique Peña Nieto premiered the presidential plane “José María Morelos” with a flight from Mexico City to Hermosillo, Sonora, to lead the 101st anniversary of the creation of the Mexican Air Force.
The most expensive trips of Peña and AMLO
One of President López Obrador’s most expensive trips was the visit to Washington to meet with Donald Trump.
On June 8, 2020, both leaders signed a joint declaration to strengthen the historic relationship between the two countries due to the entry into force of the Free Trade Agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC).
For that tour, the office of the Presidency of the Republic spent 103 thousand 160 pesos, since he was accompanied by Daniel Asaf Manjarrez, who is part of his security team and assistant.
In contrast, Enrique Peña Nieto’s most expensive tour was to New York from September 26 to 28, 2015, when the Presidency spent more than 541,814 dollars, that is, more than 10,836,288 pesos, for lodging and food, as well as land and air transportation for the stay in the city where the UN headquarters is located. Thus, it was expenses of the trips of López Obrador and Peña Nieto.
Source: forbes.com.mx
