Cancelled: an order for eight Seahawk helicopters will be cancelled by the new president.
Andrés Manuel López Obrador won’t be sworn in as the next president of Mexico for more than four months, but he is already moving ahead on campaign promises.
Speaking after a meeting with his party’s elected lawmakers, López Obrador said yesterday that his administration will cancel the purchase of eight MH60R combat helicopters worth US $1.2 billion.
The Navy has ordered the eight Seahawk aircraft from the United States manufacturer Lockheed-Martin and in April the U.S. State Department authorized the sale, on the grounds that the helicopters would improve the security operations of a regional strategic partner and would aid in the fight against organized crime.
When the purchase was announced, López Obrador asked that the order be cancelled.
“That purchase is going to be cancelled because we cannot make that expenditure,” said the president-elect yesterday.
He made this announcement as he prepares for his first meeting with representatives of the U.S. government as president-elect.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Jared Kushner, senior advisor to President Donald Trump, are scheduled to travel to Mexico City tomorrow.
On the campaign trail López Obrador was critical of federal spending on military equipment.
He also plans to sell the presidential airplane, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner purchased by the federal government two years ago. The president-elect has said he would never “board that plane.” Instead he plans to continue flying on commercial flights.
Source: Milenio (sp)
