Andrés Manuel López Obrador

Other publications such as The Economist describe his record as Mexico City Mayor as "patchy". http://www.economist.com/World/la/displayStory.cfm?story_id=6829296

His reputation was tarnished when several high-profile officials in his staff and members of his party were filmed receiving large sums of cash. Videos appeared on national TV, the whole issue has been dubbed by the media as the "videoscandals". López Obrador was never directly linked to the scandals.

López Obrador was severely questioned for not accepting the new transparency policy (IFAI) that requires all public finance to be disclosed to the general public during his administration of the Federal District. López Obrador claims that his administration had proper disclosure policies.

Political agenda

López Obrador (center) with President Vicente Fox (left) and former EdoMex governor Arturo Montiel (right).

As mayor, López Obrador focused on maintaining a clean public image promoting real-estate construction, and expanding the city's transportation system.http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050926&s=eakin092605

He implemented various social programs that included extending cash checks to help vulnerable groups: single mothers, senior citizens and the physically and mentally challenged. Opposing parties have consistently criticized these actions, but some have recently implemented similar programs themselves. He also founded the first new university in Mexico City in three decades, the [UACM].

López Obrador hired Rudolph Giuliani to craft a zero-tolerance policy that would help reduce the escalating crime in Mexico City. http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0317/p06s01-woam.html http://www.thebrooklynrail.org/express/june03/vivarudy.html No public funds were used to pay Giuliani's consulting firm but the private sector paid for this.

He directed the restoration and modernization of Mexico City's historic downtown, which has 16th-17th century buildings and a large number of tourist attractions, yet had been badly maintained, overcrowded, and crime-ridden in the last few decades. He led a joint venture with Carlos Slim, a native of the downtown Mexico City, to expropriate, restore, rebuild and gentrify large parts of the area, creating attractive shopping and residential areas for middle and upper income residents.

López Obrador used fiscal policy to encourage private sector investment in housing.http://www.inmobiliare.com/articulos.php?id_sec=5&id_art=77 He granted construction firms large tax breaks and changed zoning regulations to make construction projects more financially attractive. This led to the construction of more condominiums and office building during his tenure, than during any other period in Mexico City history. New high density condos have emerged in the upscale neighborhoods of Polanco and Lomas.http://www.esmas.com/noticierostelevisa/mexico/402522.html

To improve traffic in the city's two main inner city roads, Periférico and Viaducto, he added sections of second stories to their existing infrastructure. The effect of this in aiding the traffic problem in Mexico City is yet to be seen. An express bus service, the Metrobús, based on the successful Curitiba model, was built down Avenida Insurgentes, cutting through the city some 20 km from north to south.http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002340776_mextraffic19.html

Legal and political controversies

• He saw his law enforcement record stained by the lynching of federal law enforcement officers doing an undercover investigation in Tláhuac, in November 2004.http://www.esmas.com/noticierostelevisa/mexico/408253.html The Police of Mexico City were able to rescue one agent.http://www.esmas.com/noticierostelevisa/mexico/408258.html However, the city's chief of police, Marcelo Ebrard, and the Federal Secretary of Public Safety, Ramón Martín Huerta, were both accused of not organizing a timely rescue effort. López Obrador was then severely criticized when his Secretary of Government, Alejandro Encinas, declared that the lynching was part of the traditions ("usos y costumbres") of the people.http://www.esmas.com/noticierostelevisa/mexico/408889.htmlhttp://www.esmas.com/noticierostelevisa/mexico/408719.html. After a thorough investigation, López Obrador gave Ebrard a vote of confidence, despite a request from President Fox for López Obrador to relieve him of his duties. Later, using his constitutional powers, Fox fired Ebrard, while Ramon Martin Huerta, a member of Fox' cabinet, received a reprimand, and continued to hold the Secretary of Public Safety until his death in an helicopter accident.http://www.centroprodh.org.mx/Focus/PDFS_FOCUS/2005/focus_marzo030305_baja.pdf http://www.tulane.edu/~libweb/RESTRICTED/WEEKLY/2004_11228.txt López Obrador later appointed Ebrard as Secretary of Social Development, and supported his candidacy in the PRD primaries to run for the government of Mexico City.

• The opposition claims that the aging metro system was neglected (see Mexico City Metro). Funds assigned to its maintenance were diverted to the construction of the new upper levels of major routes in the city. In lieu of the planned subway line along Avenida Insurgentes, López Obrador's government deployed a lower cost solution, the Metrobús, with lower capacity than an underground line would have had. The Metrobus has also been criticized because it uses up a dedicated lane an underground would not have used. However, due to the narrowing of lanes and central area the available lanes for automobiles remain the same.

• López Obrador's detractors argue that a legal dispute with a Spanish company has the potential to become a major problem. Eumex signed a contract enabling it to provide street publicity with former regent (before López Obrador's post existed) Óscar Espinosa Villarreal. López Obrador's government sought to revisit the contract, citing its unusually favorable terms. Eumex was granted a court order allowing it to install street publicity until the matter is resolved, but it was prevented from doing so at least once, raising the possibility of sanctions against the López Obrador government. The matter is being litigated in the courts.

• In July 2004, one of the largest public marches seen in recent history was organized in Mexico City and other major cities throughout the country. The request was to have authorities act upon the high level of crime seen throughout the country. López Obrador was quick to indicate that the march was an attempt of the upper classes to discredit his government. The march was organized by an NGO named [[México Unido Contra la Delincuencia]. http://www.mexicounido.org The march was followed by a series of TV ads where media personalities told about their kidnappings and encounters with criminals. López Obrador again criticized the ads as an attempt to undermine his administration. He asked the organization to disclose its benefactors, but it refused to do so.

Desafuero

Andrés Manuel López Obrador

In Mexico, all elected government officials, from mayors to the President, and all legislators, local and Federal, have an official immunity called Fuero that prevents criminal charges to be presented against them. If a person protected by Fuero commits a crime, there has to be a process to remove the immunity so the person can be presented with such charges.

In 2001 a landowner sued the government of Mexico City for having expropriated a strip of land. The expropriation took place before López Obrador was elected Head of Government of the Federal District. The strip of land had been expropriated to fulfill a contract in which the government of Mexico City had to give access to a high level hospital in an upscale part of town. López Obrador had to decide whether to comply with the court order regarding the potential lawsuit over the strip of land or fulfilling the contract with the hospital. His administration chose the latter.

The matter was kept quiet until in 2004 the Attorney General's Office asked Congress to strip Lopez Obrador of his immunity under charges of a misdemeanor (ignoring a court order). Under federal law, any person with criminal charges during the electoral process would not be eligible to contest in a presidential election. Because of the general slowness of the judicial system, it was very likely that a process started in 2004 would continue until the presidential campaigns of 2006, and so the process of bringing Lopez Obrador to court would have ended his ambitions of running for the presidency in 2006.

López Obrador used the moment to advance his popularity, and even put himself in a position where he was about to set foot on jail, only to be bailed out by political opponents who claimed López Obrador should follow the same judicial process as anyone else. One of the largest public marches ever seen was organized in support of López Obrador against the desafuero. Opponents questioned the validity of the march, since some attendants appear to have been brought to the march by López Obrador's support team.

In the days before the "desafuero" trials, Pope John Paul II was in his death bed. This led Obrador to make one of his most criticized statements, in which he said it was preposterous that the media was more focused on the death of the pope than on his trials.

Some analysts agree that the desafuero process was politically motivated by the high approval ratings shown by López Obrador. Likewise, some newspaper editoral boards throughout the world charged that the desafuero was politically motivated, and that it should be stopped, and that excluding Obrador from the upcoming elections would delegitimize the eventual winner. Still, some analysts believed that López Obrador should have faced the force of the law, and thus becoming the first public official in Mexican history to be prosecuted (ending a long tradition of impunity in government).

After congress voted in favor of removing López Obrador from immunity, López Obrador resigned his post for a few days. President Vicente Fox, wanting to avoid a political cataclysm, appeared on national TV in April 2005, indicating that the issue would not be pursued any longer. The whole deal ended up closed on a technicality, and López Obrador, though without immunity, was not prosecuted (and thus remained eligible to compete in the Presidential Election). A few weeks later, Fox's Attorney General resigned.

It is to be noted, however, that before the desafuero, López Obrador had on countless occasions deneied any ambition to run for President, and it wasn't until this episode that he addressed any such ambition directly.

Presidential campaign

In September 2005, López Obrador was nominated as presidential pre-candidate for the PRD for the 2006 general election after the "moral leader" of the party, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, declined to participate in the internal elections when polls showed López Obrador had 90% party support.

Until March 2006 he was considered the presidential frontrunner by the majority of polls, however polls in late April show a steady decline in López Obrador's numbers.http://www.bgc.com.mx/articulos/nal_abril.pdf Most polls at the time showed López Obrador to have fallen to second place. http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/graficos/animados/presid-mayo06.htmlhttp://www.milenio.com/mexico/milenio/nota.asp?id=78088 http://www.opinamexico.org/candidato-partido.phtml López Obrador discredited those polls, indicating foul play coming from Los Pinos.

López Obrador has been severely criticized by left wing politicians and analysts for including in his close staff many former priístas who actively fought against his party in the 1980s, http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2006/03/03/020a1pol.php most notably Manuel Camacho Solís and Marcelo Ebrard. Also the guerrilla leader of the EZLN, Subcommander Marcos, openly declared López Obrador to be a false left wing candidate, arguing that he is a centrist candidate. The "moral leader" and founder of the PRD, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, has not participated in any campaign events but has stated that he would still vote for his party, the PRD.

López Obrador's proposals, including his 50 commitments, have produced mixed opinions in analysts. The Washington Post ran a news article indicating that López Obrador used Franklin D. Roosevelt as inspiration for his 50 commitments.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/22/AR2006062201550.html

López Obrador made the news in April by refusing to attend the first of two debates held by the candidates to the Mexican Presidency. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/world/mexico/stories/041706dnintimmigpollside.7fda9e3.html He did attend the second debate, where all five contenders participated. National newspaper Reforma published a telephone poll made immediately after this debate. Felipe Calderón won the debate according to 44% of the respondents; 30% expressed their preference to López Obrador.

On 19 May, Roberto Madrazo, presidential candidate for the PRI, considered by all polls to be in a distant third place, hinted at the possibility of an alliance with López Obrador to prevent Felipe Calderón from winning the election, http://www.nuevoexcelsior.com.mx/XStatic/excelsior/template/noticia.aspx?s=1&sl=1&sc=469&n=7233 http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/11953 after both the parties have criticized the government for what, in their opinion, is supposed illegal support by the federal government for the PAN candidate's campaigning. The PRD has said that both parties have entered into an information sharing agreement regarding the issue.http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2006/05/25/005n1pol.php http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2006/05/23/011n1pol.php This, combined with calls from high ranking PRI member Manuel Bartlett to vote for López Obrador,http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000086&sid=aimHi.AcY228&refer=latin_america aroused media speculation that the PRI and the PRD would indeed ally.

On 28 May, after AMLO had discounted such alliance http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2006/05/22/003n1pol.php, Roberto Madrazo indicated that his comments were misunderstood, and that he will not step down nor will he endorse another candidate. http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2006/05/28/008n1pol.php http://www.eleconomista.com.mx/articulos/2006-05-25-12835 On 6 July 2006, Felipe Calderón was announced as the winner of the presidential election by a narrow margin of 243,934 votes, though the claim is disputed by López Obrador, who claims there were widespread irregularities in the vote and wants every single vote recounted.http://www.esmas.com/noticierostelevisa/mexico/548823.html On 8 July 2006, López Obrador called for nationwide protests, stating that "the government would be responsible for any flare-up of anger after officials rejected his demand for a manual recount of Sunday's extremely close vote."http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,202591,00.html

Notes