Will Mexico be the next Venezuela?

THE EDITOR: Mexico elected Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on July1, 2018 and he took office on December 1, 2018. He won a landslide victory. Additionally, he won majorities in the Senate and Chamber of Deputies. He is a socialist and promised to fight corruption, lessen inequality and help the poor.

Under the proposed new law to cut the highest government salaries and raise the lowest ones, no bureaucrat can earn more than the president. And since Lopez Obrador has set his salary at about US$5,350 per month – less than half of former president Enrique Pena Nieto’s salary – that meant sharp cuts in the wages of more than 30,000 public officials.

The law also slashed the pensions of the last five presidents.

“We can’t have a rich government and poor people,” Lopez Obrador said. He sold Mexico’s presidential planes and flies economy class.

He plans to nationalise Mexico’s oil. Companies such as BP, Sunoco, Exxon, Chevron and Arco are negatively affected by his nationalistic policies. When the corporations of Europe and the US lose business (money), US and European governments strike back. Just look at the response to Venezuela’s nationalisation of its oil. It cost their corporations billions of US dollars.

The governments in the US and Europe responded with economic sanctions. The humanitarian concerns seem to be a cover for their anger over their lost of revenue in Venezuela. Will they carry out a similar tactic on Mexico?

Pay attention to the threat of tariffs by the US President on Mexican goods. He is painting a narrative. TT and the rest of the Caribbean need to prepare for an assault on Mexico by the US and Europe. Will Mexico be the next Venezuela?

BRIAN E PLUMMER via e-mail

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"Will Mexico be the next Venezuela?"

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