President Andrés Manuel López Obrador remains to be immensely well-liked in Mexico. Across the nation you will discover graffiti and placards that say “Que siga el presidente” (Let the president proceed.)
Hector Vivas/Getty Images
disguise caption
toggle caption
Hector Vivas/Getty Images
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador remains to be immensely well-liked in Mexico. Across the nation you will discover graffiti and placards that say “Que siga el presidente” (Let the president proceed.)
Hector Vivas/Getty Images
MEXICO CITY — In Mexico, there was lots of handwringing over the undemocratic tendencies of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
He rammed by reforms to the electoral fee that Human Rights Watch said would “eliminate many of the safeguards intended to preserve the independence” of the physique accountable for elections. López Obrador remains to be immensely well-liked in Mexico. Across the nation you will discover graffiti and placards that say “Que siga el presidente” (Let the president proceed.)
But López Obrador has mentioned he won’t seek an unconstitutional second term. And at his press convention on Thursday, he was categorical, saying after his six-year term ends, he will retire.
“I won’t accept any public office. I don’t want to be anyone’s political adviser. I won’t act as a party boss. I will not have relationships with politicians. I won’t talk about politics,” he mentioned. ” I will write, which is related to politics. But it will be more than anything, an academic activity.”
Although he’s flagged his consideration to face down earlier than, this assertion was way more categorical. And within the present local weather, vital.
His feedback are necessary, as a result of democracy in Latin America is in retreat. Authoritarianism has already taken maintain in Venezuela and Nicaragua. And the president of El Salvador has introduced he will defy constitutional term limits and run once more for president subsequent 12 months.
Mexico is a Latin American powerhouse, so this declaration from some of the highly effective leaders within the area sends a transparent message {that a} core tenant of democracy in Mexico will likely be revered.
This story initially appeared in NPR’s Newscast.