The crime rate in Mexico is not good. While this may not be new information, the already high homicide rate has increased by another 16% in 2018, bringing it to the highest point since 1997. This trend towards violence has proven the need for drastic change in the country, and this very well may be seen through Mexico’s new president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has used his first few days in office to follow through with his campaign promises of action against criminals. The way that Obrador seeks to do this is through the use of Mexico’s military to crack down against violent crime and enforce the laws. However, at the moment, this is not allowed in the Mexican constitution, and an attempt to do the same thing last month was shot down by the supreme court.
Despite the fact that past attempts have failed, I think that under the leadership of Obrador, who also carries large popular support (66% approval rating), this very well could succeed. Obrador’s party, the Morena party, also took control of the congress in the recent election, so it would only take the defection of a few members of one of the opposing parties to give Obrador the majority he needs to pass a constitutional amendment.
This push to combat crime, coupled with other measures already taken by Obrador, seem to show that the new president could be a breath of fresh air for mexico. Obrador, has already taken measures to fight against corruption and exorbitant government spending. Just in the past few days, he has moved to get rid of the opulent expenditures, and has even started preparing to sell Mexico’s presidential jet, which was only just acquired in 2016. He has now promised to fly on commercial airliners in coach class, as well as to sell 60 smaller planes and 70 helicopters that are also owned by the government.