Poverty reduction.
The creation of a public health system that is “better” than Denmark’s.
Economic growth above 3% in the post-pandemic years.
The establishment of “the foundations for transformation that the country needed.”
These are some of the achievements — or alleged achievements — that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) highlighted during a two-hour-long address in Mexico City’s central square on Sunday.
In front of a large crowd of supporters exactly one month before the end of his six-year term as president, the 70-year-old Tabasco native delivered his sixth and final report to the nation, an annual State of the Union-style address.
López Obrador — an indefatigable orator who has held weekday morning press conferences throughout his presidency — declared near the end of his lengthy speech that he would retire next month with a “calm conscience” and as a “very happy” man.
“First of all, nothing makes me happier than having achieved … the reduction of poverty and inequality in the country,” the president said.
“I’m also relaxed about leaving office because she to whom I will hand over the presidential sash … is an exceptional, experienced, honest, well-intentioned, good-hearted woman who supports the foundational principles of our movement of transformation,” López Obrador said.
“[She’s an] authentic defender of equality, of freedom, of justice, of democracy, of sovereignty. Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo — presidenta!”
‘100,000 Mexicans are lifted out of poverty every month’
AMLO, a self-styled champion of Mexico’s most disadvantaged people, asserted that an additional 100,000 people per month fell into poverty during the six-year terms of former presidents Felipe Calderón (2006-12) and Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-18).
“In contrast, during our government, 100,000 Mexicans are lifted out of poverty every month,” López Obrador told supporters in Constitution Square, commonly known as the Zócalo.
Poverty increased during the first half of López Obrador’s presidency, largely due to the economic impact of the COVID pandemic, but declined significantly in the second half.
AMLO highlighted data from the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy that shows that the number of people living in poverty in Mexico declined by 5.1 million between 2018 and 2022.
“According to official figures, a rich person earned, on average, 35 times more than a poor person in the times of Calderón. Now the difference has declined to 15 times [more],” López Obrador said.
“The minimum wage has increased more than 100% in real terms, something that hadn’t happened in the past 40 years.”
AMLO also emphasized the financial support his government has provided to millions of Mexicans via welfare programs such as the old age pension and disability support schemes, and employment programs.
He said that just under 3 million young Mexicans have benefited from the government’s 132-billion-peso (US $6.6 billion) investment in the Youths Building the Future apprenticeship scheme, and that 433,000 campesinos receive monthly payments for their participation in the Sowing Life reforestation program.
“Let it be heard loud and clear, let it resonate far and wide, [Sowing Life] is the most important reforestation program in the world,” López Obrador said.
‘This public health system is now the most efficient in the world’
López Obrador noted that 23 of Mexico’s 32 federal entities have signed on to the government’s universal health scheme known as IMSS-Bienestar.
“This public health system is now the most efficient in the world,” he claimed without providing any hard evidence to back up his assertion.
“I said that it was going to be the best, that it was going to be like [the health system] in Denmark. No, it’s not like [the health system] in Denmark, it’s better,” López Obrador said.
The Animal Político news website described that assertion as “false.”
Among the healthcare achievements of his government, López Obrador highlighted:
- The hiring of more than 48,000 additional doctors, including thousands from Cuba.
- The modernization of more than 500 hospitals and clinics operated by the State Workers’ Social Security Institute (ISSTE).
- The establishment of the government’s “Well-Being Mega Pharmacy.”
‘We’ve saved 2 trillion pesos by not allowing corruption’
Although alleged government corruption has been detected during his six-year term and Mexico still ranks 126th out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, López Obrador asserted on Sunday that corruption has been eliminated in the “executive power.”
“According to our calculations, we’ve saved around two trillion pesos (US $101 billion) during the six-year term by not allowing corruption,” he said.
The government’s crackdown on fuel theft — a crime in which a number of state oil company employees have been found to be complicit — has “generated savings of 342 billion pesos,” AMLO said.
“That amount, 342 billion pesos [US $17.3 billion], is what construction of the Dos Bocas refinery cost the nation,” he said.
López Obrador also highlighted a range of austerity measures his government has implemented, including reducing the salaries of federal officials, eliminating “extravagant” pensions for past presidents and abolishing more than 100 public trusts.
‘Mexico is one of the most attractive countries in which to invest’
Although there are major concerns among investors about the government’s judicial reform proposals and other bills that seek to change the constitution, López Obrador asserted that “Mexico is considered one of the most attractive countries in which to invest and do business” — a view also expressed by some high-profile United States business figures.
“We’ve achieved record figures in foreign investment: US $36 billion last year, and just in the first six months of 2024, US $31 billion in foreign investment has been received,” he said.
What AMLO didn’t mention is that the vast majority of foreign investment in Mexico in 2023 and 2024 has come from the reinvestment of profits from companies that already have a presence here.
Some experts regard the low levels of “new investment” as concerning given that Mexico is supposedly in the midst of a once-in-a-generation economic opportunity as a result of the nearshoring phenomenon.
With regard to trade, López Obrador noted that Mexico has surpassed China and Canada to become the top trade partner of the United States.
Mexico’s economic growth is ‘truly exceptional’
AMLO noted that Mexico suffered economically as a result of the COVID pandemic, with the economy contracting 8.5% in 2020.
However, despite also suffering from the “global crisis” precipitated by the Russia-Ukraine war, the Mexican economy has recovered, he said.
“From 2021 to now, we’ve grown by 3.4% per year on average. In the six-year period of government, even with the pandemic … we’re going to end with average growth of 1% [per year], something truly exceptional in the face of an extremely difficult economic environment in the country and the world,” López Obrador said.
AMLO also noted that Mexico is now the 12th largest economy in the world, an improvement of three places compared to when he took office.
‘We’re 1 week away from inaugurating the entire Maya Train’
AMLO also drew attention to the many infrastructure projects his government has carried out during his six-year term.
While there are some doubts that all sections of the ambitious Maya Train railroad will open this year, López Obrador asserted that they will — and very soon.
“We’re one week away from inaugurating the entire Maya Train, the whole circuit,” he said.
“It will run 1,554 kilometers,” López Obrador said, noting also that the project, which has faced criticism on environmental grounds, involved the construction of 34 stations in five states: Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán, Quintana Roo and Chiapas.
The government invested 515 billion pesos (US $26 billion) in the railroad without taking on any debt, he said, adding that the project created more than 660,000 jobs.
Among the other infrastructure projects López Obrador lauded were:
- The Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, which will allow Mexico to become a “world shipping power,” according to Navy Minister José Rafael Ojeda Durán.
- The Felipe Ángeles International Airport, located north of Mexico City in México state.
- The Felipe Carrillo Puerto International Airport in Tulum, Quintana Roo.
- The solar plant in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora.
- The Olmeca Refinery on the Gulf coast in Tabasco.
‘Federal crimes have declined 24.8%’
López Obrador ran through a range of statistics that show that crime has declined during his six-year term of government.
“Federal jurisdiction crimes have declined 24.8%,” AMLO said, comparing 2024 data to that of 2018, the year he took office.
Homicide numbers have declined 18%, he said, without mentioning that more people have been murdered in his six-year term of government than in any other comparable period on record.
López Obrador — who frequently blames persistent security problems on the situation he inherited from previous governments — also cited significant double-digit declines in the incidence of robbery, femicide, vehicle theft and kidnapping.
“During the six-year term, we’ve maintained an average of 1,200 arrests of presumed criminals per day,” he added.
“The National Guard was created, and it has 135,471 well-trained and disciplined members,” said López Obrador, who also highlighted that his government’s security strategy — the so-called “hugs, not bullets” approach” — has led to a decline in confrontations between security forces and presumed criminals.
“In contrast to what happened during the neoliberal governments, the people are not repressed now, massacres aren’t carried out [by security forces], we don’t torture, we don’t kidnap anyone, the violation of human rights isn’t tolerated and a narco-state doesn’t exist like in … the previous six-year period of government [when Calderón was in office],” he said, without mentioning that soldiers and National Guard personnel have been accused of committing crimes, including murder, during his time in office.
López Obrador also said that progress has been made in the case of the 43 students who disappeared in Guerrero in 2014, although there is still considerable uncertainty about what happened to the young men.
‘Raise your hand those who think that it is better for the people to elect judges’
As thousands of people protested his proposed judicial reform on Mexico’s emblematic Paseo de la Reforma boulevard, López Obrador sought to demonstrate widespread support for the controversial initiative via a show of hands.
“Raise your hands those who think that it’s better for the president and the senators to choose the [Supreme Court] justices and the judges. Raise your hands. I don’t see anyone,” the president said.
“Raise your hands those who think it’s better for the people to elect the judges,” he directed his supporters, known colloquially as AMLOvers.
“… This helps to understand the sentiment of the people,” AMLO said after the crowd reacted exactly as he expected.
He subsequently suggested that “our neighbors and friends” in the United States should take notice of the demonstration of support for the reform proposal.
Among those “friends” is U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar, who recently earned a rebuke from the president after he criticized the proposed reform in a strongly-worded statement.
‘We’ve set the bases for the transformation that the country needed’
During the closing remarks to his marathon speech, López Obrador declared that his government has “set the bases for the transformation that the country needed.”
AMLO asserted that his administration has separated “economic power from political power” and served as a government that represents all Mexicans, rather than the nation’s elite.
“We need to continue with this policy, [we need] an authentic democracy, not a simulation, not an oligarchy with a facade of democracy,” he said.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
* Previous annual reports
Click on the links below to read MND articles on López Obrador’s first five annual reports.
