AMLO’s Midterm Report Card: 68 Promises Kept, 15 Broken – What’s Next for Mexico

The administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador is a month away from ending. The list of 100 commitments presented six years ago ends with a positive balance, although the pending issues left by the current administration are very significant.

Mexico City, September 1 (However).- Andrés Manuel López Obrador On December 1, 2018, he presented a list of 100 commitments that would be the axis of his Government. 30 days after the handover of the presidential sash to Pardo Claudia Sheinbaumthe list remains with 68 commitments fulfilled, 15 not fulfilled, 10 in progress and 7 without elements to be evaluated.

The majority of the promises fulfilled have to do with social programmes, which was one of the main objectives of the whole Government, starting to work for it even before it came into force. Other commitments classified as fulfilled are those referring to austerity and changes in public administration, which were also constitutionally guaranteed.

However, the unfulfilled ones also leave a big mark on the final balance of the López Obrador administration. The case of Ayotzinapa It is one of the most controversial. The President ensured that the location of the 43 young people who were missing would be found and during the last week of August the last meeting between his Government and the parents was held, and he ensured that there was no significant progress after the President took the case personally.

The parents of the 43 missing normal students from Ayotzinapa march from the Angel of Independence to the Hemicycle to Juárez. Photo: Pedro Anza, Cuartoscuro

Another commitment was involved Amendment of the Mining Law. There is a proposal in Congress, but it has been suspended, leaving in place the law that has been in force since the Government of Carlos Salinas de Gortari, so the transfer of the tax did not come a minute to the communities affected by the activity this too. .

The other category is ongoing commitments, which include promises related to environmental care, such as preventing the introduction of genetically modified and harmful seeds. Although Monsanto was stopped, the glyphosate issue persisted despite the efforts of the academic sector.

Only in the branch of science, another commitment is added, namely the Patria vaccine, which is related to the new step promised to be in the National Council of Humanities, Science and Technology (Conacyt), which would n have the task of coordinating a National Plan for Innovation for the benefit of society and national development with the participation of universities, people, scientists and companies.

Patria’s vaccine, which would be for the treatment of COVID-19, continues to be tested.

Finally, there are the commitments that have no elements to evaluate, as they are symbolic and have no way of being verified, such as “Citizens will be treated kindly in public offices and in any place, humbly accepting that they are our principles, public servants” or “No public official may accept gifts whose value exceeds 5 thousand pesos.”

OBLIGATIONS FULFILLED

Based on the list, López Obrador’s was the six-year term of social programs. In that area it has the most popcorn: aid was given to primary and secondary students who come from low income families; scholarships for high school students; for young people in poverty who use universities; the pension for older adults increased and became a constitutional right; Support was given to people with disabilities and guaranteed prices were established for small producers.

Coneval carried out an evaluation of AMLO’s social programmes. Picture: Cuartoscuro.

One of the effects of providing direct aid, which did not stop during the pandemic and that the programs were universal, was to reduce poverty at a national level. According to data from the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (Coneval), between 2020 and 2022, poverty decreased in all states in Mexico. No entity showed an increase in people in this condition in a period that encompassed the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation that broke expectations around the world and an ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. With current data, poverty in the country would be the lowest recorded in the last 32 years.

36.3 per cent of the population lives in poverty, which is 46.8 million people. The figure is lower than what was reported two years earlier, introduced in the most complex phase of the pandemic, where 55.7 million people were counted in poverty.

Other complete commitments that stand out are the cancellation of the Educational Reform; the reduction in salaries in the highest level of the federal public administration; implementing the Sembrando Vida program and building artisan roads in rural communities; Taxes were not raised above inflation nor were new ones created; no computers were bought in the Government’s first year; trusts were cancelled; official advertising expenditure was reduced by more than 50 per cent; The President’s family no longer has the budget allocation for clothing or protocol expenses and since December 1, Los Pinos became a Cultural Center.

THE INCOMPLETE

On the list of unfulfilled is the promise to maintain children’s stay and these were canceled at the beginning of the administration and in return, it was decided to provide direct support to families, which does not guarantee compliance with the objectives of the program which seek independence. of mothers and families generally to engage in other economic and/or educational activities.

There was also no progress in terms of the devolution of Government offices despite the fact that during the first three years it was said that the Ministry of Culture was already preparing its migration to Tlaxcala and that Health was in the same tasks to be in Acapulco, Guerrero.

In terms of public purchases, it was established that citizen observers and members of the UN transparency office would be present in all tenders, but that did not happen.

Another thing that stands out is that the 50 consulates that Mexico has in the United States would become immigration protection offices but there was no such conversion.

Commitment 89 is the one that refers to the Ayotzinapa case. On August 27, the fathers and mothers of the 43 announced the end of the meetings with President López Obrador. Through their lawyer Vidulfo Rosales they communicated that the appointments are only confrontational and without significant consequences. And that position is also shared with the President.

Rosales added that the President has promised to inform parents in case there is significant progress in the investigation. If there was no news, he would deliver a report to the parents in the next month, which is the last month of his administration.

THE REST

The final and non-evaluable categories are commitments in process. The latter includes, for example, commitment 50 which states “Citizens will be treated kindly in public offices and in any place, humbly accepting that they are our principles, public servants” or 59 which says: “No public official may accept gifts whose value exceeds 5 thousand pesos. “

The Internet For All project and the amnesty processes to release political prisoners or victims of reprisals by the heads, officers or managers of the previous authoritarian regime continue in the process.

Daniela Barragan

He is a journalist from UNAM, with expertise in politics from Carlos Septién. The last few years have been devoted to data journalism, with an emphasis on issues of poverty, inequality, transparency and gender.