AMLO kicks off campaign with austerity promise

The candidate of the Together We'll Make History coalition, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), said on a message posted on his Twitter account that he will earn half of the wages currently earned by the President of the Mexican Republic, that he won't use the services of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and that he will continue living at his current home address, if he is elected as President of the Republic this July 1st.

Moreover, he added that he would refuse being escorted by bodyguards, claiming that those who “fight for justice have nothing to fear.”

“I'm going to lead by example and with austerity ,” he said on the message with which he kicked off his campaign, vowing to earn half of the current wages of the President of the Republic.

The net earnings of President Peña Nieto for 2018 are equal to MXN$ 3 million a year, according to the Expenditure Budget of the Federation, approved by the Lower Chamber.

Furthermore, López Obrador stated he would refuse to change his residency to Los Pinos , choosing instead to transforming the current official residence in a public space for arts and culture.

Last Friday, AMLO's campaign coordinator, Tatiana Clouthier , mentioned the use that could be given to Los Pinos, to which she considered could become one of the largest cultural complexes in the world.

The official residence of Los Pinos was built in a plot purchased by former Mexican President Lázaro Cárdenas after he refused to reside in the Chapultepec Castle. He then named the property “Los Pinos” in honor of the ranch in Michoacán where he met his wife, Amalia Solórzano.

Several Mexican Presidents have ordered the expansion of the property, and it was Miguel Alemán who built the French-style residency currently inhabited by the family of the Head of State.

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