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News > Latin America

Mexico’s Obrador Pushes Party to Donate 100% of Budget to Earthquake Victims

  • Members of a rescue team search for students amidst the rubble of a collapsed building of the Enrique Rebsamen school after an earthquake in Mexico City.

    Members of a rescue team search for students amidst the rubble of a collapsed building of the Enrique Rebsamen school after an earthquake in Mexico City. | Photo: Reuters

Published 23 September 2017
Opinion

After the Oaxaca earthquake on Sept. 7, Lopez Obrador initially proposed a donation of 20 percent of his party's budget.

Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's political party will give 100 percent of its budget to the victims of the earthquake and reconstruction efforts.

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The National Regeneration Movement, Morena, began proposing 20 percent of the allocation of its funds, later announcing that it will donate all of its money scheduled for the upcoming presidential elections.

"We are driving them to stop wasting, to not use the public budget, which is the people's money," Lopez Obrador said.

The Morena president, who is ahead in polls for the 2018 elections, also proposed that pensions given to former presidents be eliminated in favor of the victims of Tuesday's quake.

Lopez Obrador, also known as AMLO, said the financial resources provided by the National Electoral Institute, INE, should go to those affected, amid criticisms over large financing for parties.

After the Oaxaca earthquake on Sept. 7, Lopez Obrador proposed a donation of 20 percent of the budget, which was criticized by opposition parties and the INE itself.

The INE, in charge of financing the electoral campaign, said the proposal was not feasible and its lead adviser Benito Nacif said that it was "forbidden" for political parties to give their resources to purposes "different from political issues."

"The INE observes and sanctions them," Nacif said.

He called Lopez Obrador an "opportunist," saying he couldn't "look handsome wearing a hat of others," referring to his intentions to use the money for campaigning in earthquake relief efforts.

After a general outcry and criticism towards the INE, several parties including the PAN, PRD and the ruling party, the PRI, also pledged to give part of their budgets.

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