Mexico’s army takes over yet another civilian role – filling potholes

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Published Feb 20, 2024 • 1 minute read

FILE – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks during a military parade in Mexico City, Aug. 13, 2021. Mexico’s president acknowledged Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024 that the armed forces will take over fixing the nation’s highways. Photo by Fernando Llano /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president acknowledged Tuesday that the armed forces have taken over yet another civilian role: fixing the nation’s highways.

Filling potholes has now been added to a long list of projects ranging from planes, trains and policing that the armed forces now control.

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President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said highway maintenance in southern Mexico had been transferred away from the government’s Transportation Department.

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The department usually gave private companies contracts for road maintenance but Lopez Obrador claimed those contracts were too expensive and riddled with corruption.

“There are very few serious construction companies, because they were all rotten with corruption,” the president said.

Lopez Obrador has given the armed forces the leading role in law enforcement, including the quasi-military National Guard, and entrusted them with far more duties than his predecessors.

Late last year, Lopez Obrador put the army in charge of the government’s new state-owned airline. He also said the army would run a passenger train service, in addition to building everything from bank offices to airports.

Lopez Obrador claims the military is more honest and efficient.

Unlike many militaries in Latin America, Mexico’s armed forces have for almost a century kept out of politics and avoided taking a leading, public role.

Critics say Lopez Obrador’s measures threaten to break that tradition and militarize the country.

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Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

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