López Obrador had everything he needed to go down as one of the best presidents in the history of this country, because he inherited a legacy that began with Zedillo. Essentially, four presidential terms had bequeathed him the structures and institutions necessary to finally propel Mexico into modernity. In 2018, Mexico had:
1- More than 870 billion pesos in 335 trusts and mandates, including the Stabilization Fund and the Mexican Oil Fund.
2- The seventh most visited country in the world, with all the revenue that implies for the government, businesses, and the population.
3- A highly efficient tax authority (SAT), which had managed to double tax revenue in just six years.
4- More than 200 billion USdollars in foreign direct investment—the real deal, the most important, the largest in history, a legacy of Peña Nieto.
5- An average annual inflation rate of 4%, with Banxico (the Bank of Mexico) bringing it down to 3% in some years, and 6+ sustained annual economic growth of 2% since 1994.
6- The renewed USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement) and nearshoring poised to explode due to the trade war between China and the United States.
7- 14% of total government revenue committed to public debt interest payments.
8- Consolidated social programs that addressed problems, such as the Seguro Popular (Popular Insurance), Procampo (Agricultural Program), Pronabes (National Scholarship Program), childcare centers, and full-time schools.
9- The parasitic unions of Pemex (Mexico’s state-owned oil company), CFE (Federal Electricity Commission), and the CNTE (National Coordinator of Education Workers) brought under control.
10- The NAICM (New Mexico City International Airport), which was projected to generate 4% of GDP on its own, create 400,000 indirect jobs, 40,000 direct jobs, and become the tenth largest taxpayer in the country.
There were problems, yes, but the strategy was already half-inherited: a financial and military crackdown on organized crime, and the implementation of the energy reform as is at Pemex and CFE. AMLO only had to correct what wasn’t working and expand what was. The man could have easily spent his time playing baseball and let the country’s inertia take over, and today he would be remembered very differently.
But Obrador chose to align himself with the so-called “Progressive” agenda based on the Castroist and Bolivarian ideologies of Cuba and Venezuela, distancing himself from the United States and aligning with the aforementioned countries. He left his most prominent disciple, Claudia Sheinbaum, a staunch communist from the halls of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and an admirer of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, at the helm of the nation to continue his strategy of destroying the Republic.
And now, the ex president is tied to drug trafficking, he and his sons are acussed of stealing a ton of money, he is heavily criticized for putting incompetent people in positions of power everywhere, and sabotage everything he hadn’t done out of pure spite. For millions of Mexicans, Lopez Obrador is the worst president in the best possible context for achieving lasting recognition.
By Katherine Densemore for The Mazatlan Post
