Lavish wedding of aide undercuts austerity pledge

MEXICO CITY — It was a lovely wedding, officiated by an archbishop, with designer dresses, palatial decorations and a huge convention-center reception. But for Mexico’s austerity-minded presidentelect, it was likely the last image in the world he wanted one of his closest advisers projecting, and it quickly drew criticism.

The beaming newlyweds, Cesar Yanez and Dulce Silva, landed on the cover of the society magazine “Hola!” — and so did President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who attended the nuptials and appeared to be out of place and perhaps uncomfortable.

With good reason: Lopez Obrador has prescribed a policy of “republican austerity” for the government after he takes office Dec. 1 as an antidote to decades of corruption and high-living politicians who have disgusted average Mexicans, a promise that helped win him a crushing victory in the July 1 elections.

“There can’t be a rich government in a poor country,” Lopez Obrador is fond of saying.

The late September nuptials and 19-page glossy photo spread in Hola! drew widespread criticism last week from those who said it had little in common with the image of a man who has pledged to halve his presidential salary, flies tourist class, refuses secret service details and prefers pressing the flesh with smalltown farmers and eating cheap meals at local restaurants.

Lopez Obrador has recently taken to using the word “fifi” to dismiss things as opulent, frivolous or out-of-touch with the people. But on social media, many opined that nothing fits the definition better than the tuxedo-drenched bash.

“It is now prohibited for coming administrations, and forever, to use the word ‘fifi,’” newspaper columnist Genaro Lozano said in tweeting the Hola! cover story.

The wedding of Yanez, a soft-spoken, ever-present shadow to Lopez Obrador for more than two decades, and Silva, who was born into a wealthy business family, illustrates the difficulty of weaning Mexico’s political class from its long-standing love of luxury.

It is a love affair that goes back to the days after the 191017 Revolution, when the rich were vilified and officials cracked down on the Roman Catholic Church — while secretly sending their children to catholic schools, marrying into society families and building themselves neo-baroque mansions in posh neighborhoods.

Amy Guthrie and Mark Stevenson are Associated Press writers.

Marco Ugarte / Associated Press Hola! magazine features Cesar Yanez, an aide to Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and his bride, Dulce Silva. The opulence of their wedding has drawn criticism.