Politics: Excesses of power in electoral times as AMLO targets widow who dared to criticize his government

MEXICO - Report 13 May 2024 by Guillermo Valdes and Francisco González

It has long been noted that President López Obrador's personal style of governing is characterized by an intolerance of criticism and a highly inflated sense of his historical importance. As we near the end of his administration, more and more balance sheets of his government have begun to appear that contradict the alternate reality he has constructed about his legacy and also suggest the magnitude of the problems that his successor, whomever she may prove to be, and the country as a whole will be overburdened by.

The panorama appears all the more complex given the growing political polarization being stoked daily from the National Palace by the President himself that deepens divisions and fuels an increasingly rarefied atmosphere of hatred and animosity that will make it difficult to reach any kind of agreements in the future.
In one of the latest and basest instances of President López Obrador's intolerant personal style of governing, he launched a personal vendetta against María Amparo Casar, the head of the non-governmental organization Mexicanos Contra la Corrupción e Impunidad (MCCI) ever since the government of Peña Nieto, demanding she repay roughly 31 million pesos in pension and insurance she has received since the 2004 death of her husband.

In this report we analyze this case and what it could mean for the upcoming elections, as well as the risks the current government’s abuse of power could extend into the next administration.

Now read on...

Register to sample a report

Register