Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador stands out as “cheap and indifferent,” says The Economist.
MEXICO (The Economist) – Many governments in Latin America tried to reduce the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, and in the process, motivate people to stay home with measures such as stimulus packages. Still, Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador stands out as “cheap and indifferent,” says The Economist.
In a report published Saturday it analyzes the damage that the pandemic has caused in the region, the newspaper highlights the response to the economic crisis by governments like Peru’s, which approved a package of loans and additional spending equivalent to 12% of GDP, and Brazil’s, which increased social welfare spending to the point that poverty and inequality decreased during the pandemic, even as the unemployment rate increased.
But in mentioning the López Obrador government’s economic measures, the newspaper said that it “stands out as stingy,” since it spent less than 2% of the GDP to support the inhabitants and businesses.
Furthermore, it reproached López Obrador for taking an “indifferent” stance in the face of the pandemic. At the same time, other Latin American countries announced restrictions to control the coronavirus’s spread, which has already caused the death of more than 126 thousand Mexicans.
“Many Latin American leaders, such as the presidents of Argentina and Peru, quickly recognized the danger of the coronavirus, closed borders, and imposed national closures (…) But the presidents of the two largest countries, Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, and Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico were more indifferent,” said The Economist, recalling that the Mexican president urged them to continue to embrace others.
Latin America has registered almost a fifth of the coronavirus cases in the world, and nearly one in three deaths, despite representing 8% of the world’s population. Mexico has accumulated one million 443 thousand 544 thousand infections and registered 126 thousand 851 deaths from the coronavirus.
