President López Obrador claimed on Sunday that by working 16-hour days he will effectively serve two terms in office by the time his presidency ends in 2024.

Speaking to members of indigenous communities in Sonora, López Obrador said the long hours will enable his administration to make a real change to Mexico that will be “very difficult” for future governments to wind back.

The president reiterated that he will not seek a second term in office as some opposition lawmakers claim he intends to do.

“We work 16 hours and use eight to rest. If we do it that way we’ll have enough time [to change Mexico] and it won’t be necessary . . . to be re-elected. I’m a supporter of effective suffrage, no re-election,” López Obrador said using a slogan of revolutionary hero Francisco Madero.

“If the people want it, I’ll get to 24 [hours a day] but as we’re working 16 hours a day, it will be as if we did two six-year terms of government in one,” he declared.

López Obrador said that 16-hour days will allow his administration to satisfy people’s “hunger and thirst for justice.”

He also renewed his commitment to prioritize the nation’s poor and indigenous peoples.

“. . . The majority of Mexicans support giving preference to indigenous communities, an applause for the true solidarity of all Mexicans,” López Obrador said.

“A lot of progress” has been made since the government took office almost 11 months ago, the president added, emphasizing that nine of 10 indigenous households are receiving financial support.

He also said that he is committed to working with the Sonora government to complete projects to meet local infrastructure needs such as the widening of the Hermosillo-Bahía de Kino highway.

The president also used his address to defend once again the decision to release Ovidio Guzmán López, son of former drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

“The security cabinet took the right decision and I supported that decision because it was better to let an alleged criminal free than place the lives of many people at risk,” López Obrador said.

After Guzmán López was arrested in Culiacán, Sinaloa, on October 17, Sinaloa Cartel gunmen carried out a wave of attacks across the northern city that terrorized residents and left at least 13 people dead.

Source: El Financiero (sp), Milenio (sp)