Ready To Change: Government And Politics In Mexico
Currently there is some uncertainty in the political system starting on December 1st in Mexico. They had an election recently in July where the President, 128 Senate seats, and 500 Chamber of Deputies were all being voted upon. In all, over 3400 positions subject to elections were voted on. The new President is Andres Manual Lopez Obrador who has been running for election the last 4 terms.
Due to increasing public discontent with the corruption and other problems with the last several presidencies, there was an unprecedented turnout for voting and President Obrador garnered over 53% of the popular vote. His closest competitor could only get 35%. Nathaniel Parish Flannery, who wrote an article for Forbes said, AMLO's election is simply a sign that people have had enough. They are fed up. They are ready for a change even if they are not quite sure what that change will look like". He faces some serious challenges in his plan to grow a middle class and redistribute wealth by transforming economic development. There is a huge amount of inequality in Mexico. Even in the state of Jalisco, which by most accounts is a successful city rivaling that of any big US city, out of 2. 7 million people only around 24000 of them earn more than $12,000 per year.
Another issue is the widespread and rampant corruption which most people think is related to the huge disparity in income for everyday working people. Add to the list the war on drugs which has ended up costing the lives of 200,000 Mexicans with no real prosecution or resolution in crimes. The good news is that Lopez Obrador has ended an 80-year-old hold on power by the two main political parties in Mexico and has a plan to help improve the economic situation that will benefit many companies. In an article written for The New Yorker, Jon Lee Anderson writes, “In the face of Trump’s proposed wall, dividing the two nations further, López Obrador has proposed greater togetherness, and has said he will establish a thirty-kilometer-wide free-trade zone along the entire length of the Mexican-American border, with significantly reduced taxes as an incentive for more American companies to come and do business there.
Trump proposes the expulsion of millions of Mexicans and other “illegal aliens”; López Obrador has countered with calls for a series of F. D. R. -style make-work projects that involve tree-planting and various infrastructure programs to encourage Mexican workers to stay at home. ”Besides the new president Mexico has been historically a place where you can operate a successful business. The NAFTA treaty allows for certain tax advantages for manufacturing and other business that work with import and export raw materials and finished goods. There are many people who are on the fence about what will happen in December when President elect Obrador takes office. Some people think that is why we had a big push to resolve NAFTA before that happens since he is a bit of a wildcard and reform candidate. The great unknown really is how he is going to go about ridding the country of the corruption that has ingrained itself in all levels of bureaucracy and business.
