Mexican President Lopez Obrador has transformed the office, but old problems thwart progress

[TomSea]

Mexican President Lopez Obrador has transformed the office, but old problems thwart progress
By Patrick J. McDonnell Mexico City Bureau Chief

On Sunday evening, as tens of thousands of flag-waving celebrants take to the streets to mark independence festivities, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will perform a signature ceremonial duty — el grito (“the shout”), mimicking Miguel Hidalgo’s early 19th century call against Spanish rule.

It will be a first for Lopez Obrador, 65, a silver-haired history buff who took office Dec. 1 vowing a “fourth transformation” of Mexico — after the 1810 independence uprising, the political reforms enacted in the mid-1800s era of Benito Juarez, and the Mexican Revolution of 1910-17.

Less than a year into his six-year term, Lopez Obrador has indisputably transformed the optics of the Mexican presidency — which, under his predecessor, Enrique Peña Nieto, was a stodgy institution featuring a daily dose of heavily scripted public appearances that accentuated the gulf between Mexicans and their leader. Broad dissatisfaction with Peña Nieto set the stage for Lopez Obrador’s landslide victory in July 2018 and his self-proclaimed “regime change” agenda.

Read more at: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-09-13/mexican-president-lopez-obrador-has-transformed-the-office-but-old-problems-thwart-progress