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It has now been one year since the victory of President Andr茅s Manuel L贸pez Obrador, an election that was won with the promise of a Fourth Transformation in Mexico. As part of this transformation, L贸pez Obrador promised to end corruption, grow the Mexican economy, reduce violence, build infrastructure, and expand social programs designed to reduce poverty and inequality. Six months after taking office, he has maintained a high level of popular support while aggressively pursuing his agenda and managing a challenging relationship with the U.S. administration. He has initiated a new worker training program for youth; canceled the construction of a new airport in Mexico City; suspended oil bids and auctions for renewables; gained congressional support to create a National Guard; launched a campaign to fight fuel theft; and raised the minimum wage. However, he has yet to make an impact on Mexico's record high homicide rate, and the economy appears to be slowing.

How much progress has President L贸pez Obrador made in his Fourth Transformation? Join us to consider the achievements of the new administration and the trajectory of the country for the rest of President L贸pez Obrador's six-year term. Our experts will discuss public opinion on the AMLO administration, the administration's anti-corruption efforts, the prospects for the Mexican economy one year after AMLO's victory, and progress made in realizing AMLO's vision for Mexico.

Selected Quotes

Blanca Heredia

"What I see in these last twelve months is an opportunity鈥攁n opportunity I know I will not see again in my lifetime. An opportunity to break away from the shackles of perpetually stalled and deformed development that concentrates all of the goodies in a miniscule field. An opportunity, no more, but no less. No certainty that it will, in fact, translate into more possibility in the future.鈥�

鈥淔or elites, understandably, these are also jarring and very uncomfortable times. The political arrangements and legitimation structures that help sustain the latest and broadest ever drive for Western style progress and modernization are becoming undone. Elites are resisting, obviously, and will continue to do so. No emperor likes it when his clothes fade or disappear.鈥�

Mar铆a Amparo Casar

鈥淸L贸pez Obrador] has stated in his last discourse that he has already met 78 of his 100 promises, and that, save security and health, where he recognizes more difficulties than he had originally, or initially judged, he will deliver a peaceful country and a health system 鈥榗omparable to Scandinavian countries.鈥欌��

鈥淚n no meaningful sense can we say that he has something to show regarding the three issues highlighted since his campaign: insecurity, inequality, and corruption. Nonetheless, I do believe that it would be inappropriate to pass judgement on the new administration by the results thus far.鈥�

鈥淚t is a pity that his policies don鈥檛 seem the right ones to transform the country. For the first time in 21 years, he has all the instruments, and all the power, to get all these things done. No other president has had the Congress on his side鈥�.No other president has had the legitimacy L贸pez Obrador has.鈥�

Antonio Ortiz-Mena

鈥淚f the current trends prevail, the growth during the L贸pez Obrador sexenio will be 2.3 percent which is exactly the same [as the] Pe帽a Nieto growth. And I think that鈥檚 a problem, because the basic aim of the L贸pez Obrador administration is to have stability with growth.鈥�

鈥淯nder previous governments, we had stability and very low growth, and the problem is that per-capita growth has been flat for decades. And I think that is just ethically wrong. It鈥檚 unnecessary and it鈥檚 unsustainable. That is the problem: per-capita GDP growth. I do think it is possible for the Mexican economy to grow by 4 percent by the end of the sexenio, but some things would need to change.鈥�

鈥淭here鈥檚 still time to have stability and growth, but I do think that the government needs to really make sure that there鈥檚 stability, credibility, [and] predictability in terms of the way it engages with domestic investors and with foreign investors.鈥�

Jorge Buend铆a

鈥淚 think that one main difference between the popularity of L贸pez Obrador and Fox and Calder贸n is the intensity of approval. I mean there are really a lot of strong L贸pez Obrador supporters. And in the past with Calder贸n and Vincente Fox, we didn鈥檛 have the coattail effect of their popularity reflected in the incumbent party鈥檚 numbers.鈥�

鈥淲hat explains L贸pez Obrador鈥檚 [approval] numbers? I could say that we sometimes commit the mistake of thinking that his approval levels are a reflection of what he鈥檚 been doing; that his policies are either popular, or those that are unpopular do not reflect his approval levels. But, if we go a little further back, we can see that [economic] expectations are driving the approval levels of L贸pez Obrador.鈥�

鈥淲hen we try to explain the approval levels of L贸pez Obrador, and try to understand what has changed, I would say, to some extent, his honeymoon is, in part, a consequence of the electoral campaign just being over. If you look at his approval numbers, or the evaluation of the people, it increased a lot after the election鈥�. So before the election, everybody was looking at L贸pez Obrador through a partisan lens. He wins election, and partisan bias is deactivated.