‘Who’s in charge?’ Next Mexico leader clashes with business over airport
MEXICO CITY: Mexican President- elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s decision to cancel a multi-billion dollar Mexico City airport has pitched him into conflict with business elites, auguring a rocky start to his plans to revive the economy.
The partly-built US$ 13 billion airport on the eastern flank of Mexico City was the biggest public works project of outgoing President Enrique Pena Nieto, intended to relieve pressure on the current hub and serve the metropolis for decades to come.
But during the campaign that catapulted him to a landslide victory in July, the left-leaning Lopez Obrador attacked the new airport as a nexus of corruption between business interests and the political class as he vowed to end graft in Mexico.
Business leaders bristled at his decision on Monday, made on the basis of a divisive four- day referendum organised by Lopez Obrador’s National Regeneration Movement ( MORENA) party.
Juan Pablo Castanon, head of Mexico’s CCE business lobby, said the cancellation cast doubt on the continuity of projects across administrations, and put the economy at risk.
“This seriously affects the prestige of Mexico in the eyes of the world and its ability to attract investment,” he said.
The decision sparked fears of protracted legal disputes and concern that steps to liberalise Latin America’s second-largest economy could be reversed. Mexican markets reeled.
“It’s a test of strength against Mexican businessmen,” said Raul Benitez, a political scientist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). The American Chamber of Commerce of Mexico, which groups some of the largest investors in the economy, said in a statement it was “highly concerned” by the “polarising” move.
Announcing the cancellation at a news conference, Lopez Obrador dismissed his critics, saying they would have to get used to a new reality, and questioned whether Mexico should be “subordinated to financial markets.”
“A message has gone out that there’s a clear divide: a division between economic and political power,” he said. “Who’s in charge? Is it not the people? Is it not the citizens? Is that not democracy? This is the change.”
The 64-year- old Lopez Obrador also attacked Pena Nieto’s decision to open up the oil and gas industry to private capital, reviving fears that he could also walk back that reform. Lopez Obrador, who takes office on Dec 1, has said the energy opening could also be put to a vote. His priority is to revive state oil company Pemex and reverse declining oil output.
Mexico’s peso currency and stocks suffered their biggest falls since Donald Trump’s election as US president two years ago after a campaign laced with hostile rhetoric towards Mexico. — Reuters