Fifteen months after contracting COVID-19 for the time being, President López Obrador announced last Sunday in a social media post that he had been retested.
He claimed his illness was not serious, but rumors about his physical condition, fueled by an article in a Mérida newspaper that he had fainted after an apparent attack at the center, proliferated.
Speculation only increased in the past week when Monday and then Tuesday passed without a direct message from the president, even as his colleagues, including Health Minister Jorge Alcocer, always confided to journalists, and the rest of Mexicans, that he had COVID-19. However, it was healthy in a different way.
AMLO finally dispelled the rumors on Wednesday, coming out of his solitary confinement to record a video message in which he said he was fine, but admitted to briefly fainting while attending a meeting in Merida last Sunday.
On Friday, he was again in front of reporters for the fifth and final government press convention of the week.
For now, in as many years, the Tabasco native and confidant of the president, Interior Minister Adán Augusto López Hernández, took the reins of the mornings, replacing his convalescent father from Monday to Thursday.
The former Tabasco governor aspires to update Lopez Obrador full-time, a purpose that may have a little more scope given the greater prominence he gained by replacing Mexico’s most sensible political actor this week.
“As you well know, the president of the republic announced that he tested positive for COVID,” López Hernández said at the start of the first press conference of the week.
AMLO is in isolation and receiving medical attention and is expected to return to his morning hours in two to three days, the interior minister said.
Responding to reporters’ questions later in the press conference, Lopez Hernandez clarified that Lopez Obrador is recovering in the National Palace — where he has an apartment — and explained that he began experiencing bloodless symptoms on Saturday night.
“There is no emergency transfer [from Merida to Mexico City], there is no episode of fainting,” the former governor said in rejecting a report published Sunday through the Diario de Yucatán.
Asked about the newspaper’s claim that the president had suffered a central attack or a “central complication,” López Hernández replied:
“No, Array. None of this [happened]. That’s what [his critics] would like, yet he’s healthy. He himself said it yesterday, he is one hundred percent well in terms of the health of the center.
Questions about AMLO and his physical condition determined journalists’ engagement with the interior minister, but López Hernández also answered similar questions to some other topics.
Asked about the recent request of the governor of Chihuahua, Maru Campos, to the federal government to prevent the entry of migrants to the north of the country, he pressed that Mexico is a “country of asylum” with its “open doors” to those fleeing adverse conditions in their country. Nations of origin.
While thousands of migrants have been detained and deported since Lopez Obrador took office in late 2018, the federal government must “guarantee” the “free passage” of migrants through Mexico, Lopez Hernandez said.
He pointed out that a new caravan of migrants left Tapachula, Chiapas, on Sunday, and said that the federal and state governments are providing their members with all the “care” they have when traveling through the country.
The Interior Minister also spoke about the case of the US company Vulcan Materials, whose maritime terminal near Playa del Carmen was occupied by federal and state forces in March for its alleged breach of a precautionary measure that ordered it to allow the construction of the Cemex company. to use the installation.
“I perceive that. . . [Sac-Tun, a subsidiary of Vulcan] has to unilaterally suspend Cemex’s activities at the port,” he said.
“. . . I already have an agreement. . . and operations resumed,” Lopez Hernandez said before lashing out at Vulcan for what he called its “irrational looting” and “irrational exploitation” of the Quintana Roo coast through its gravel mining. in a quarry that the government closed last year.
Earlier in the press conference, the head of the National Fund for Tourism Promotion announced that tracks were laid along 94 kilometers of the 234-kilometer Escárcega-Calkiní section of the Mayan Train.
Section 2 of the railway, which is expected to open in December, passes through six municipalities in Campeche and has two intermediate stations, one near the archaeological site of Edzná and the other in the city of Campeche, Javier May said.
Many other officials provided updates on government programs, adding the Youth Building the Future apprenticeship program.
“Today 231,789 other young people are being trained,” said Deputy Minister of Labor, Marath Baruch Bolaños López.
“Array. . This program is aimed at other young people who do not read or run and supports their Array. [transition] Array. . to employment through on-the-job education for which they get the minimum wage of 6,310 pesos [about US$350] consistent with the month,” he said, adding that the government has invested just over four billion pesos in the program this year.
AMLO’s physical condition is also on the agenda of the government’s morning week.
Health Minister Jorge Alcocer reported at the start of the press conference that the president had mild symptoms of COVID-19, but was sometimes healthy. Taking paracetamol, staying hydrated and resting.
“He will be released in a few days,” Alcocer said, referring to the moment when AMLO was due to emerge from his solitary confinement at his National Palace residence.
Later, a reporter noted at the press conference that there is a widespread “idea” that the president has health issues with more than just COVID and asked the interior minister why AMLO had not posted a video on social media to counter the rumors.
“Of course there are voices that feed on misinformation,” Lopez Hernandez said.
“As one of the most widely read e-books, or perhaps the most widely read e-book in human history, says, they are those whose souls are rotten. There is nothing to hide; From the beginning, we said what the scenario was and that the president recovering,” he said.
López Hernández, who resigned as governor of Tabasco to succeed Olga Sánchez Cordero as interior minister in 2021, later expressed for the Supreme Court ruling that the governing board of the National Institute for Transparency (INAI) cannot meet with only 4 commissioners.
Judge Loretta Ortiz’s ruling “was done in accordance with the law,” he said.
The interior minister denied that the government rejoiced in the ineffectiveness of the INAI – as indicated by an audio leak – and pressed for the Senate to appoint more commissioners so that its government framework meets.
He also spoke about proposed reforms to mining, water and environmental legislation that were approved by the shrinking Congress last week and the Senate on Friday.
The “most important” thing about the legislation, López Hernández said, is that “the human right to water” prevails over mining.
Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell, who spoke about the dangers related to electronic smoking devices at the beginning of the press conference, returned to the last arena in the morning to answer a query about a new law that prohibits the incorporation of trans fats into processed foods and beverages.
Health regulator Cofepris will conduct our inspections of food and beverage brands for the ban, said López-Gatell, better known as Mexico’s COVID czar.
Before the end of the morning, López Hernández congratulated a Mexican female archer who won a gold medal at the Archery World Cup in Turkey last Sunday.
Puebla Governor Sergio Salomón Céspedes invited to speak after a brief intervention through López Hernández, and then gave a noble description of the weekday morning press conference, which AMLO began presiding over two days after assuming the presidency.
“The morning will be remembered as the maximum exercise of openness and transparency that a government has had with Mexicans,” said the governor of the Morena party, who replaced Miguel Barbosa after his death last December.
“Array. . President Andrés Manuel López Obrador: know that in Puebla we are attentive to your physical condition and the directives you give for the transformation and prosperity of our country. We wish him a speedy recovery, we know we will have him as president for a long time,” Cespedes said.
“Array. . Many of us would like to count on your energy, but above all on your conviction and consistencia. Sr. President, you are an example,” he added.
In her “Who’s Who in the Lies of the Week,” Ana García Vilchis highlighted the Russian embassy’s responses to two allegedly misleading newspaper articles.
“Listen, this is a gem,” he said, referring to a tweet posted through the embassy in reaction to a Reforma report that said “the U. S. government is not doing anything about it. “The US suspects that Tajikistan, the country to which Mexico sold the presidential plane [last week], may only serve as a bridge to funnel goods to Russia, adding aerospace parts [whose sale] to Moscow was banned after its invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian embassy said it did not perceive how the sale of the presidential plane was similar to the “banned products” that Russia achieved, but added that “thanks to Reforma, we can now believe which parts will fly to Russia. “
A Photoshopped symbol that appears on a variety of items in the plane’s presidential chamber included in the tweet.
“The parts banned in Russia, we hope [they are not]. . . it’s tacos, esquites, tequila, finger-licking avocado and other things of national interest,” Garcia said. “We expect them to eat tacos and esquites in Russia. “
The government media observer also drew attention to a tweet in which the Russian embassy rejected a column in El Universal that claimed it was Russia, not Tajikistan, that bought the presidential plane.
“The Russian embassy responded with a lot of humor, [saying] ‘Another surrealist short story published in El Universal,'” Garcia said.
“The embassy says, ‘Thanks to ‘reputable foreign sources,’ we discovered that the plane was not purchased through. . . [the] [country] Tajikistan unknown, but through Russia,” he said before continuing to read the tweet. West will do anything to manipulate public opinion. ‘”
Responding to a reporter’s question, López Hernández said that the postponement of a regional anti-inflationary summit in Cancun scheduled for early May has nothing to do with AMLO’s COVID contagion, even though the Foreign Ministry explicitly stated that the resolution had been taken. . after finding the positive result of the president’s test.
“As I said a moment ago, we believe, and the doctors approve, that the president will resume his activities . . . before the weekend,” the interior minister said.
He then assured at the press conference that the head of the National Institute of Migration (INM), Francisco Garduño, would not be distracted from his paintings despite a scam rate similar to the burning of a detention center in Ciudad Juárez that claimed his life. of 40 people. Migrants.
Garduño, who officially charged Tuesday, will “probably” fulfill his legal responsibility to periodically deputy the government in Ciudad Juarez while on official INM business in Chihuahua, Lopez Hernandez said.
In response to some other question, the interior minister downplayed the proposal to integrate the National Institute of Health for Welfare (Insabi), a branch of the government created in 2020 and responsible for providing medical care to millions of uninsured Mexicans, into the Mexican Institute of Social Security.
“The most important thing is that universal and flexible public health is guaranteed to all Mexicans,” he said a day after the reduced space of Congress approved a bill to dissolve Insabi with that of the ruling Morena party and its allies.
Thursday
It was an exhibition for two on Thursday with the director general of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) accompanying the Interior Minister in a 100-minute morning at the National Palace.
Diego Prieto, an anthropologist who has led INAH since 2017, told reporters at the start of the press that “very important” discoveries had been made in the direction of the Mayan Train railroad, adding the discovery of a rare stone, the sculpture of the Maya. god K’awiil, a deity related to power, abundance and prosperity.
In section 7 of the railroad, which will link Chetumal, Quintana Roo, with Escárcega, Campeche, pre-Hispanic structures and platforms were discovered “practically every step of the way,” Prieto said.
“. . . We had to come up with imaginative and meticulous engineering solutions to save. . . these archaeological structures,” he said, adding that many ancient buildings could be restored so that Mayan exercise passengers can enjoy their splendor in the comfort of their seats.
López Hernández revived the head of INAH at the morning table and began to answer the questions of the day.
The “hate campaign” directed at the president as he recovered from COVID is regrettable, he said, referring to unsubstantiated claims that López Obrador suffered a heart attack or stroke.
“As I’ve been saying since Monday . . . and as he said on Sunday, the president, fortunately, is doing well,” the interior minister said.
“. . . The way some media, pseudo-journalists and pseudo-columnists respond to dark interests is miserable,” López Hernández said.
When asked if he believed other people sought AMLO’s death, he replied:
“What they wrote and what’s there for Mexicans to decide. “
López Hernández then took a leaf from AMLO’s book and launched an attack on Felipe Calderón when asked about the former president’s meeting in Lima this past week with Peruvian President Dina Boluarte, whose government he called “false” through López Obrador.
“We Mexicans know that if he has characterized Felipe Calderon, it is his sale to foreign interests,” the interior minister said.
“If I’m not mistaken, he ended up as a worker for a Spanish electricity company, I think it’s called Iberdrola,” he said, adding that any sense of nationalism Calderon might have had was not on display when he “stole the presidency” in a hotly contested election in 2006 in which Lopez Obrador was his main rival.
Among other statements, López Hernández pressed that the government’s position on the fire at the Ciudad Juárez detention center is that it will have to do justice. There should be no impunity for those responsible for the migrants’ deaths, he said.
Soon after, the interior minister thanked the bloodhounds for their time and, like AMLO, unveiled his breakfast menu, pronouncing that he would eat small tamales called chanchamitos.
Friday
“I am very satisfied to be here with you again,” AMLO said upon returning to his morning after a week of absence.
“First of all I want to thank the Mexicans behind my center for their support, their solidarity. . . I think of almost all Mexicans, who have expressed fear about my COVID contagion. There were presentations of affection, many blessings, good wishes, chains of prayer, much solidarity,” he said.
“. . . People were worried because there was sensationalism, tabloid journalism and bad faith,” Lopez Obrador said, adding that he recovered and made the decision to continue the “transformation” of Mexico for the good of “our beloved people. “
In his opening monologue, AMLO also outlined a number of tactics in which his government has cut costs, noting that the army establishment that in the past was charged with protecting the then-president, the Presidential General Staff, has been dissolved, industrial offices have been closed, public trusts have been abolished, and the salaries of senior officials have been reduced.
The head of public development bank Banobras later reported that there were 93 expressions of interest similar to the acquisition of the presidential plane before the $92 million sale to the government of Tajikistan was concluded.
Jorge Mendoza Sanchez said the aircraft, which he bought in 2012 for $217 million, was scheduled to leave Mexico on Friday afternoon, leaving as planned.
“The sale was made through the Institute for the Restitution of Stolen Property to the People,” the Banofas leader said, adding that the value of the sale corresponded to the advertising cost of the aircraft as determined by the Institute of Administration and Evaluation. of National Assets.
Mendoza also sought to dispel any doubts about the acquirer, noting that Tajikistan is a member of foreign intergovernmental organizations, adding that the United Nations and the C5-1 group, a “diplomatic platform” that the United States links with the governments of five Central Asian countries. countries.
During his engagement with reporters, López Obrador said that in light of his latest COVID episode, doctors begged him to drink too much water and try too hard.
“It’s wonderful to drink water, water and water, to hydrate the body. . . I will rest, I have time [to do it], but [also] I have a project to fulfill; He doesn’t take long [in my six-year term]. . . I eat a year and five months, but since I paint twice [the hours of a normal painter], that means I have two years and 10 months left. So I have to continue, consolidate social programs,” he said.
AMLO then reiterated his claim that the INAI, which remains out of action after a Senate vote on Thursday failed to secure the mandate for the appointment of a new commissioner, is “useless” and was created to “pretend” that corruption was being addressed.
“Since when has there been more corruption in Mexico?During the time the institute has been [in operation], excluding our own [time in power],” he said.
The president said he would like the transparency firm to be dissolved and its purposes to be taken up again through the Federal Comptroller’s Office. One billion pesos a year would be saved, he said, explaining that “waste, expenses and privileges” would end.
Toward the end of his only morning appearance of the week, López Obrador again targeted one of his main antagonists in the Mexican press, Carlos Loret de Mola, as well as television journalists and news anchors in general.
Loret de Mola, who has denounced alleged corruptions in the Government, “is a journalist at the service of the magnates,” he said.
“There is a more accurate word, but it is very strong and I don’t need to use it. [These journalists] are very well paid. . . to pounce on those who oppose corruption,” AMLO said.
“Array. . In the case of television, Array. . They read – they don’t know how to improvise, they have the so-called teleprompter, and then it turns out that they improvise, but they are not – they read, they are news readers,” he says.
“I suffer from vaguid,” the word he used to describe his brief fainting last Sunday.
By Peter Davies, editor-in-chief of Mexico News Daily ([email protected])
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