Mexico’s Corbyn to take on Trump
Socialist firebrand becomes president with pledge to defend migrants
FIREBRAND socialist Andrés Manuel López Obrador won a landslide victory in Mexico’s presidential election today, vowing to tackle rampant corruption and setting up a showdown over immigration with Donald Trump.
Mr López Obrador, a friend of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, is expected to take a tough stand against the US president’s “zero-tolerance” policy towards illegal immigrants, his planned border wall and hikes in trade tariffs. He was projected to win about 53 per cent of the vote. His main rivals, José Antonio Meade of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), and Ricardo Anaya of the National Action Party (PAN), both conceded shortly after polls closed.
Mr López Obrador, known by his initials Amlo, has been branded “Mexico’s Donald Trump” because of his populist support and feuds with the media. But he has fiercely opposed Mr Trump on immigration. Before the election he said: “We will defend migrants ... who, by necessity, must abandon their towns to find life in the United States; it’s a human right we will defend.”
He was more conciliatory in his victory speech in Mexico City, saying he would seek a relationship of “friendship and respect” with the US. “We are going to transform Mexico,” he vowed. “Peace and tranquility are the fruits of justice.”
The two leaders were today expected to speak by phone. Yesterday Mr Trump, — who has previously insisted Mexico will pay for his border wall — raised the prospect of taxing cars imported from Mexico if there are tensions with the new government. But today he tweeted his congratulations, adding: “I look very much forward to working with him.”
T h e L e f t- w i n g e r, 6 4 , h a s b e e n described as Mr Corbyn’s “ideological twin”. The Labour leader and his Mexican wife Laura spent part of their Christmas holiday with Mr Lopez Obrador and his wife Beatriz in the country in 2016.
His big win is seen as a repudiation of the establishment in a nation blighted by a drug war. More than 130 politicians and activists had been killed in the election campaign since September.
Mr López Obrador has pledged to end corruption, reduce violence and tackle poverty. He said he would double pensions for the elderly upon taking office on December 1. On corruption, he vowed: “Whoever it is will be punished, I include comrades, officials, friends and family members. A good judge begins at home.” He is a former mayor of Mexico City and thousands flocked to its main square, the Zócalo, to celebrate. Mr Anaya of the centre-right PAN won about 23 per cent and Mr Meade of the PRI, which once dominated Mexican politics, trailed on 16 per cent.
The president-elect’s coalition, led by his National Regeneration Movement, is set to have a majority in the chamber of deputies and possibly the senate.
Mexicans in California drove to vote in Tijuana. Luis Evans, from LA, said: “This man is the only one who can make Trump end his persecution and racism against Mexicans. If there’s not a change with Andrés Manuel, God help us.”