Never known for its subtlety, the City of London’s flagship weekly The Economist published a cover feature of its May 29-June 4 issue headlined “Mexico’s false messiah; Voters should curb Mexico’s power-hungry president.” The magazine’s cover graphic is even more ham-fisted: a stern-looking President López Obrador is placed in a montage against a background of a polluting smokestack of the national oil company Pemex, protected by soldiers standing menacingly at attention. And, oh yes: part of the background looks suspiciously like a somewhat deformed swastika.
Get it? Lopez Obrador may have been democratically elected president with a landslide; he may still have a 61% popularity rating (the Economist admits); but he’s really a dictator who supports pollution, dirty “diesel-burning railroads,” and he is refusing to hand over the country’s oil wealth and the state oil company Pemex to well-meaning international “investors” – such as City of London and Wall Street bankers.
Why now? Because there are national congressional and gubernatorial elections coming up in Mexico on June 6, in which López Obrador is poised to gain a super-majority in Congress which will allow him to ensure that Pemex stays in Mexican hands, that he can pursue the development of infrastructure in the country, and perhaps – worst of all for the British – put an end to the autonomy of the central bank and thus take control of the nation’s credit system out of the hands of predatory international financiers.
The Economist piece has trouble getting started. “Mexico’s president has somehow escaped the limelight… To his credit, he speaks out loudly and often for Mexico’s have-nots, and he is not personally corrupt. Nonetheless, he is a danger to Mexican democracy.” How so? “61% approve of Mr. López Obrador himself. Many feel that he cares about ordinary people, even if he has not materially improved their lives… The more levers he controls, the further Mr. López Obrador can pursue his plan to transform Mexico. He has done good things, such as bumping up pensions and subsidizing apprenticeships for the young. Though a leftist, he has kept spending and debt under control, so Mexico’s credit rating remains tolerably firm.”