President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says there is no cause for alarm, and is continuing to hold regular public rallies around Mexico. He argues the country must keep going to limit damage to the economy lest it hurt the poor and the elderly.
“If I was worried, if things were out of control, I would tell you, because I always tell the truth,” he said on Friday in a video posted from his seat on a plane as he prepared to take off for a weekend tour. “But that’s not how things are.”
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Late on Thursday, Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, a close ally of Lopez Obrador, delivered a video message in which she urged inhabitants of the capital to stay at home. On Friday, traffic flowed freely in a city notorious for its gridlock.
The same day, governors of three opposition-run northern states unveiled a joint plan to tackle the virus, readying steps that would enable them to close public spaces, including bars.
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Lopez Obrador has lashed out against criticism of his response to the global pandemic by saying his adversaries are seeking to exploit fears to undermine him.
On Monday, he justified ignoring his own health ministry’s public advice to reduce direct human contact by saying his job was to keep up the spirits of the population.
At the same time, he has shifted responsibility for some actions to others, saying he would wind down the mass rallies when a deputy health minister standing next to him told him to.
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