MEXICO CITY: Mexico President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador highlighted his campaign against government corruption and downplayed the work that remains to be done in the areas of security and reducing poverty in his third state of the nation address Wednesday.
Nearly midway through his six-year term, Lpez Obrador remains popular despite stubbornly high levels of violence and rising inflation in an economy emerging from recession.
The money that was stolen before now gets to those on the bottom, the 67-year-old leader said.
Government support for the poor has increased, but Lpez Obrador did not mention that Mexicos poverty rate has also increased during his presidency to 43.9% last year, according to the governments National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy.
Patricio Morelos, a professor at the Monterrey Institute of Technology, said Lpez Obrador has maintained his support among Mexicos poor, in part due to the $750 each family receives in government support yearly, creating a sensation of greater comfort.
Its through the battle against corruption that the government has been able to increase social spending by allowing him to free more budget for the benefit of the people, Lpez Obrador said.
The president also lauded the record amount Mexico received in remittances last year some $40.6 billion money sent home by Mexicans living primarily in the United States.
Lpez Obrador distanced himself from violence Mexican immigration agents unleashed on migrants last weekend, saying his government respects human rights. Two agents involved were suspended this week.
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