Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador
Photographer: Alejandro Cegarra / Bloomberg
Photographer: Alejandro Cegarra / Bloomberg
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Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador continues to work after hiring Covid-19, talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin and attending meetings remotely.
The 67-year-old said on Monday that Putin had agreed to send 24 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine to Mexico. He tweeted a picture of you sitting at your desk, without a mask.
Lopez Obrador, known as AMLO, announced his diagnosis in a tweet late Sunday, after a trip that took him to two states amid a sudden spike in infections and deaths in the past few days. The nation now has the fourth highest number of fatalities in the world, after the USA, Brazil and India.
AMLO has taken a relatively quiet approach to the virus compared to peers such as Colombia, Peru and Argentina. He refused to impose mandatory blocks and pushed hard to keep the economy open for business.
“The president is well and strong and is working on all public affairs and will coordinate and attend some meetings remotely and continue to give instructions,” said Interior Minister Olga Sanchez Cordero, on Monday, representing Lopez Obrador at her press conference. daily press release.
Mexico does not have a vice president and, as interior minister, Sanchez Cordero would have assume power for up to 60 days if the president dies, until lawmakers appoint an interim leader.
AMLO suffered a heart attack in 2013, he said was caused by high blood pressure. He first had mild symptoms of Covid on Sunday and is now under the care of Health Minister Jorge Alcocer, according to Jose Luis Alomia, a ministry official.
Cabinet Tests
Cabinet members are awaiting the results of the tests, said Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, who joined AMLO and former chief of staff Alfonso Romo for a call with US President Joe Biden on Friday. market. None of the three Mexicans on the call wore a mask. Ebrard wrote on twitter Monday he will work from home until he has a definitive diagnosis.
The Mexican peso plunged 0.8% to 20.14 per dollar at 10:02 am in New York, joining a broad wave of emerging currency sales. The currency was on track to close at its lowest level in almost a month.
“Lopez Obrador’s government has been a contagion factor: daily press conferences without masks, bus rides and personal meetings with governors,” said Viridiana Rios, a political analyst in Mexico City.
When asked by reporters last month why he was contradicting Mexico City’s guidance on wearing masks, the president replied “everyone is free”.
Read more: AMLO has a big plan to transform Mexico cheaply
Last week, Mexico saw a two-day record increase in deaths due to the virus, registering an increase on Thursday of 1,803 deaths.
The Latin American nation ranks last among 53 countries in Bloomberg’s Covid resilience ranking.
Read more: Best and worst places to be in Covid: vaccines that don’t slow deaths
Lopez Obrador refused to be vaccinated against Covid-19 until the end of February, when others in his age group are scheduled to get the vaccines.
The president is struggling to keep his majority working in Congress during the midterm elections to be held in June. Your approval rating has it remained above 60% during the crisis, even with the virus on the rise and the estimated economy has shrunk by about 9% in 2020.
– With assistance from Andrea Navarro, Max Zimmerman, Cyntia Aurora Barrera Diaz, Maya Averbuch and Justin Villamil