Politics
Mexican president writes 'political will' for nation – details to remain secret
Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced he drafted the “political will” after staying overnight in a hospital for a cardiac catheterization, but has so far kept its details a secret
January 22, 2022 4:58pm
Updated: January 22, 2022 7:39pm
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced Saturday he drafted a “political will” as a guide for his political party and what it should do in the event of his passing. The announcement came after the 68-year old Mexican head of state stayed overnight in a military hospital for a cardiac catheterization, the Associated Press reported.
“I don’t think it will be needed,” he said of the mysterious document, offering his left wing following some hope.
López Obrador’s medical practitioners were reportedly worried about a potential blockage of the Mexican president’s arteries after he received concerning results from a stress test he took earlier this month. Reports indicate he was originally scheduled to get the catheterization then, but a sudden bout with COVID-19 delayed the procedure.
“The arteries are good, there was no blockage,” López Obrador told the Mexican nation of the catheterization, a process in which a small, flexible tube is inserted into a blood vessel. The message, which was posted in a video on Twitter also added, “Now I am back here in the Palace, very calm and very happy.”
Despite those results, López Obrador said he drafted the will just in case he suffers unforeseen medical complications and dies. In 2013, he suffered a heart attack and continues to live with high blood pressure. He was sworn in as Mexico’s first leftist president in decades in December 2018.
Perhaps the most intriguing part of the Mexican president’s announcement is that he is keeping the details of the will secret, a move that is bound to keep the nation in suspense.
López Obrador was largely responsible for the success of his Morena political party and is considered by many as its most charismatic leader. Some of his critics have expressed concerns he may even try to continue finding a way to stay in power after his constitutionally limited single term ends in 2024, but he has denied those claims, saying when his term is over he has plans to retire at his ranch in Southern Mexico.
