New President of Mexico sets positions

The future President of Mexico, Antonio Manuel López Obrador, who will take office in the first days of December, has begun to set positions, giving a hint of what his mandate could be.

The future President of Mexico, Antonio Manuel López Obrador, who will take office in the first days of December, has begun to set positions, giving a hint of what his mandate could be.

Domestically, López Obrador has already completed one of his main campaign promises, the holding of a referendum on the controversial airport of the Federal District, still under construction.

Even without acting as president, but relying on the nomination of the new governor of the capital District (an urban agglomeration of more than 20 million inhabitants), within a few weeks, the new Mexican president implemented a plebiscite on the continuation or paralysis of the construction controversial capital mega-airport.

A project with a mega-budget of many million dollars, which has provoked for almost 6 years a strong social rejection, and a constant and violent state repression, due to its strong environmental, human and of planning.

The referendum returned a broad rejection of the continuity of the mega-infrastructure, a countercurrent result of the apocalyptic and intense campaign carried out by the most powerful economic groups of the country and the two monopolistic media groups of the country.

Faced with the open threats of business pressure groups, which still declared a catastrophe in the event of a standstill, López Obrador handled a well-studied alternative during the debates prior to the consultation, which basically consisted in respecting the contracts already signed by the State, but proposing that the works are directed to the construction of an extensive ecological zone and of socio-cultural recreation, of which the immense capital population lacks.

At the same time, the proposal included that two military bases, close to the capital, will be deactivated to recondition them to the growing needs of civil aviation, which, added to the current airport, will guarantee air communication with Mexico City.

In this way, the new President has succeeded in defeating without any major damage and with great credibility his first major test responding at the same time to the demands of numerous social organizations as well as to part of the economic interests of the large economic groups, which overall won’t be affected as predicted.

The referendum at the same time has sent a clear message to the exclusive Mexican economic-financial elite: the new President intends to exercise his mandate in favor of the majority of people and with criteria of political legitimacy, without being pressured by that customary caste to which the rulers " obey "their mandates.

Meeting the Migrant March

The second event of interest was the meeting of López Obrador with representatives of the Migrants March, which is heading towards the border with the United States.

During the meeting the new head of state proposed to migrants to stay in Mexico and that the government would look for work and forms of social integration. A grateful proposal for the "marchers" while transmitting that their desire is to reach the US.

The gesture of López Obrador must be read in the context of the intense pressure of the US Government, demanding that the governments of Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico prevent the march, and threatening them with reprisals otherwise.

 A few days after the meeting, the 7,500 emigrants who made up the march at that time (a third of them women and children) continued their route to the north, dividing into two columns, while two new marches began their long journey.

The arrival of the first March to the border with the US would probably coincide with the inauguration of López Obrador, and the US military deployment on the dividing line seems to announce border incidents that could become serious.

Invitation to Venezuela President

The third decision of the incoming President has been the invitation extended to the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, to his taking office ceremony. An invitation that seems to have aroused strong pressures given that the future President officially "reiterated" his invitation.

A decision certainly well meditated as it openly breaks with the de facto "total blockade" around Venezuela, maintained by the US, the EU and the so-called Lima Group (made up of 11 Latin American countries).

Despite his initial statements that the "south" was not his priority, López Obrador in this case seems to want to mark territory and warn that Mexico will not be "indifferent" to the growing process of re-positioning of the oligarchic right and pro - North American in the region.