Politics: Balance sheet and political outlook in AMLO’s third year in office
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has just completed half of his six-year term. While his popularity has actually increased in the past few weeks and his supporters are more enthusiastic than ever, the results of his administration, despite almost daily glowing reports in the President’s daily morning press conferences, have been, at best, paltry. The largely negative balance sheet includes an economy stalled by presidential decisions, albeit worsened by the Covid pandemic, with its death count almost at the half million mark; four million more Mexicans having joined the ranks of the poor; and over 100,000 murders.
The contrast between the solid and positive social support AMLO has enjoyed in the first three years of his administration and the failure of his main public policies, together with the deterioration of the country's situation, has been striking. Furthermore, his health care, education, environmental, social, energy, and public security policies have been designed more on the basis of ideological considerations than on technical requirements. The situation has been compounded by AMLO’s unbridled presidentialism, his sharp and polarizing dismissal of any and all who are not 100% behind him, and the militarization of public security tasks and increased role of the armed forces.
Analysts have varied views of what the future has in store. The President seems committed to maintaining all his present policies despite evidence suggesting that many are not going so well. His refusal to seek agreements with the opposition points to a possible further radicalization of his discourse and actions heading toward 2024.
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