Mexico’s President Pushes Relations with Business to Boiling Point
- Vote to cancel beer plant triggers worst tension in 16 months
- Lopez Obrador ignores calls for stimulus as outbreak deepens
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Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s relationship with the country’s business elite is rapidly deteriorating over the response to coronavirus and his decision to back a local referendum to shutter a partly built $1.5 billion beer plant just as the economy is on the edge of a precipice.
On Monday, Lopez Obrador backed a weekend public consultation where the population of Mexicali, on Mexico’s northern border, voted to revoke operating licenses from a Constellation Brands Inc. brewery. The president justified the cancellation saying he needs to “listen to the people” even though participation was just under 5% of registered voters.