Category: Mexico

MEXICO: Unpredictable AMLO to complicate bilateral relations with US

Teneo January 21, 2021

It is difficult not to see various recent moves by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) as deliberately provocative to the new US administration. AMLO’s contrarian attitude is largely due to his drive to acquire leverage ahead of what he anticipates will be a more complex period in bilateral relations with the US, in which he is challenged on a wider range of issues than was the case under Donald Trump.… Read the rest

MEXICO: A challenge to electoral governance ahead of June ballot

Teneo January 13, 2021

This week has seen another instalment of the long-running feud between President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) and the National Electoral Institute (INE), which organizes federal elections and audits parties’ finances, and its head Lorenzo Cordova.… Read the rest

MEXICO: Early steps on vaccination belie challenges to come

Teneo January 5, 2021

The government is touting its achievement as the first Latin American country to begin vaccinating its population against Covid-19; the first vaccinations of frontline medical personnel started on 24 December using the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.… Read the rest

MEXICO: Flaws in Covid-19 strategy persist amid slow vaccination outlook

Teneo December 16, 2020

Health authorities and various political figures have been making calls for people to stay at home where possible, while avoiding Christmas parties and family gatherings. The appeal comes amid a resurgence in Covid-19 cases and a sustained increase in hospital occupancy rates, especially in Mexico City, where some facilities are under extreme pressure.… Read the rest

MEXICO: Romo exit could seal more radical turn

Teneo December 4, 2020

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) on 2 December announced that Alfonso Romo, head of the Office of the Presidency, was stepping down. A successful businessman, Romo has been the AMLO administration’s most market-friendly senior official and its main bridge to the business community.… Read the rest

MEXICO: Notes on a scandal

Teneo November 18, 2020

A US federal judge earlier today, 18 November, ceded to a Department of Justice (DoJ) request to drop drug trafficking and money laundering charges against former defense minister Salvador Cienfuegos (2012-2018), who was arrested in Los Angeles on 15 October.… Read the rest

MEXICO: How would AMLO approach a Biden administration?

Teneo October 16, 2020

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) has navigated challenges laid down by his US counterpart Donald Trump relatively successfully; adapting to a possible Joe Biden administration would not be too difficult.

… Read the rest

MEXICO: Plenty to lose from AMLOve policy

Teneo July 9, 2020

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) returns to Mexico today, 9 July, following his meeting yesterday with US President Donald Trump in Washington DC. AMLO, who made the trip ostensibly to mark the new United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA, or T-MEC as it is known in Mexico) that came into effect on 1 July, was effusive in his praise for Trump.… Read the rest

MEXICO: AMLO’s 2021 roadmap comes into clearer focus

Teneo June 11, 2020

The explicitly more radical, confrontational stance adopted by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) in recent days provides the clearest indications yet of his roadmap for the 2021 mid-term legislative and state elections: to ratchet up confrontation with opponents and polarize the electorate.… Read the rest

MEXICO: 2021 budget mixes austerity and pet project spending

Teneo September 9, 2020

The 2021 draft budget unveiled yesterday, 8 September, did not produce any real surprises. The USD 292bn budget is a blend of government austerity; fiscal discipline; some over-optimistic core assumptions; and spending increases for President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO)’s pet infrastructure projects and clientelist social programs.… Read the rest