(MEXICO CITY, The Washington Post) — «A leftist leader vowing to launch a “profound and radical” transformation of Mexico and improve the lives of the poor was sworn in as president on Saturday, opening an uncertain era in a country with deep economic and security ties with the United States.
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, 65, known by his initials AMLO, took office as potentially the most powerful Mexican president in decades. Not only did he win 53 percent of the vote in a three-way race, but his party cinched a majority in both houses of Congress and gained control of numerous state legislatures.
“Today, we begin a change of our political regime,” López Obrador said in an address to the nation, after donning the green, white and red presidential sash in Congress. “Starting from now, we will carry out a peaceful, steady political transformation. But it will also be profound and radical, because it will end the corruption and impunity that impede Mexico’s rebirth.”
The election of a leftist “is a historic, very important change for Mexico, and it’s very healthy in a country with the grotesque inequalities that we have,” said Jesús Silva-Herzog Márquez, a prominent political scientist who teaches at the Tecnologico de Monterrey University.
Yet, he and other Mexicans are unsure whether López Obrador will govern as a practical-minded centrist — as he did as mayor of Mexico City from 2000 to 2005 — or an autocratic populist.»
Mexico Today USA 