Citizens seek solutions from president-elect
MEXICO CITY — Each morning hundreds of Mexicans crowd at the gates of 216 Chihuahua St. in the capital, home to the white, two-story building that served as President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s campaign headquarters.
They bear handwritten notes, medical records, retirement papers and other documents in the hope he will hear them out on requests ranging from bigger pensions for the elderly to private concerns that normally wouldn’t fall to a head of state: getting a loved one out of jail, help getting into a college course or assistance finding a job or a place to live.
“He has told us he is going to provide for us, help us and change the country,” said Jasmine Lopez Peralta, a 45-yearold nurse who has been without stable work for two years after her hospital said it could no longer pay her.
This personalized, almost religious faith in Lopez Obrador to help people is fed by his image as a fighter for the poor and his promises to end what he calls a corrupt “mafia of power” that has protected its own interests at the expense of those on society’s lower rungs.
The daily scene outside his offices in Mexico City’s Roma Norte neighborhood reflects not only a breakdown in the ability of government at all levels to solve people’s problems, but also the depth of expectations that Lopez Obrador is the one to finally change millions of lives after years of disappointment.
Jose Antonio Crespo, a political analyst at Mexico’s Center for Economic Research and Training, attributed the phenomenon in part to the country’s history of rule by “caudillo,” or strongman, and also to the populist promises and common-man persona projected by the man nicknamed “AMLO,” after his initials.
“The expectations that Lopez Obrador has created in terms of truly solving the tremendous number of problems we face are more believed than” with previous leaders, Crespo said. “Presidents always promise to solve problems; they almost always offer a kind of utopia. With Lopez Obrador it is even beyond utopia ... fixing corruption, fixing the violence that has worn us out for the last 12 years.”
Lopez Obrador’s proposals for how he intends to govern were murky at best during the campaign, and few concrete details have emerged since the July 1 election. On Sunday he said he would slash his presidential salary by over half. He has previously proposed raising pensions and creating a system of paid apprenticeships for underprivileged youth.