Javier May resigns as Mexico’s Deputy Welfare Minister

A senior Mexican official in charge of one of the government’s signature social programs resigned on Monday in a sharply-worded letter that marked the latest bust-up within President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration .

Javier

May is

the deputy Welfare Minister in charge of “ Sembrando Vida ”, an ambitious forestation program focused on Mexico’s poorer south intended to provide jobs and support agriculture . The scheme has also been exported to Central America in a bid to help contain migration from the region.

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“Once the Welfare Minister had unilaterally revoked the faculties required to run the said program, the conditions to remain in charge of it no longer existed,” May said in a resignation letter seen by Reuters .

A government source confirmed that the letter is official.

May

did not reply to a request for comment, nor did the Welfare Ministry .

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Differences over López Obrador’s policy decisions and governing style have prompted other prominent officials to quit.

Among them, the most high-level was Finance Minister Carlos Urzúa , who resigned in July 2019 with a letter that shocked markets by citing “extremism” in economic policy.

On Tuesday, López Obrador rejected the resignation of Javier May, who accused Welfare Minister María Luisa Albores of stripping him of key responsibilities.

“He handed in his resignation, but I didn’t accept it,” López Obrador told reporters at a regular morning news briefing. “Why did it happen? Due to differences, this happens a lot inside the government , like in families, in everything.”

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“He’s going to stay,” he added, describing May as a “ first-rate” official .

A source close to May told Reuters that his future would be resolved in meetings during the day.

Separately, a government source said friction had been brewing between May and Albores for months, and that May, a politician from the president’s home state of Tabasco, had the support of López Obrador.

López Obrador, in power since December 2018 , has dominated the government from his morning news conferences, at times giving policy direction an improvised feel.

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