The election of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, or AMLO, in July 2018 was supposed to result in a radical transformation for Mexico. But since taking office that December, AMLO has struggled to deliver on his campaign promises, including tackling corruption and reforming the country’s drug war. Meanwhile, he has often found himself playing catchup to U.S. President Donald Trump, whose quixotic threats linking trade and immigration have forced AMLO’s hand when it comes to Mexico’s efforts to block immigrants from crossing into the United States.
The most recent crisis came when Trump unexpectedly announced he was imposing a series of increasing trade sanctions unless Mexico managed to stop all migrant flow across the border—a virtual impossibility. Trump ultimately granted a reprieve, but only after Mexico apparently reaffirmed earlier pledges to try to stem migration, including deploying security forces to the country’s southern border. This is not a permanent solution, though, and the migration issue will continue to dog AMLO’s presidency so long as Trump remains in office.
Trump has not entirely upended AMLO’s agenda. The Mexican leader has taken steps to rethink Mexico’s drug war, including seeking to redirect the Merida Initiative—a $3 billion annual U.S. aid package that pays for Mexico’s drug war—to use the money for development, while also calling for the decriminalization of all drugs in Mexico. AMLO has not gained as much traction in his efforts to curb his country’s rapidly rising murder rate, though.
Almost a year after taking office and despite his difficulties with Trump, AMLO remains broadly popular. His pledges to reduce inequality are hailed, even as uncertainty surrounds some of his economic policy proposals. Though he has made efforts to reassure the private sector, he has also called for greater state intervention in the economy. This has some worried that Mexico is about to deviate from its open market trajectory, a concern that was exacerbated by the public and acrimonious resignation of the country’s respected finance minister in July.
WPR has covered Mexico in detail and continues to examine key questions about future developments. How will AMLO address the country’s spiraling security crisis? Will he be forced by the Trump administration to take more substantive steps to address migration? Will opposition parties regroup to serve as a viable political counterbalance over the course of his administration? Below are some of the highlights of WPR’s coverage.
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