Israeli President Isaac Herzog sees Hamas leader Yehya al-Sinwar the lynchpin in the Gaza war and key to getting Israel’s hostages held in the Gaza Strip released.
“In the end, there is no choice,” Herzog said in Jerusalem on Tuesday. “We must continue the fight and we must get to Sinwar – either alive or dead – so that we can see the hostages back home.
Herzog said the reality is clear: “Everything begins and ends with Yehya Sinwar.
“He’s the one who decided on the October massacre. He’s been seeking to shed the blood of the innocent ever since. It is he who aims to escalate the regional situation, to desecrate Ramadan, to do everything to shatter coexistence in our country and in the whole region, to sow discord among us and around the world.”
Former President Trump’s bond reduced in fraud case, date set for “hush money” criminal trial – CBS News
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On Monday, a judge agreed to reduce Donald Trump’s bond from $464 million to $175 million at a court hearing for his New York civil fraud case. It was a busy day for the former president, as a date was also set for his criminal “hush money” trial. It is scheduled to begin April 15 after a judge rejected Trump’s bid to delay the trial.
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Few had heard of him a year ago, and now he is set to become president.
Bassirou Diomaye Faye’s extraordinary rise caps a rollercoaster period in Senegalese politics that caught many off-guard.
Months in jail alongside ally and kingmaker Ousmane Sonko ended suddenly, with the pair released the week before the presidential election.
Now Mr Clean, as he’s nicknamed, must get to work on the sweeping reforms he has promised.
“Methodical” and “modest” are words often used to describe the 44-year-old tax collector.
Mr Faye fondly recalls his rural upbringing in Ndiaganiao, where he says he returns every Sunday to work the land.
His love and respect for village life is matched by his deep distrust of Senegal’s elites and establishment politics.
“He’s never been a minister and wasn’t a statesman so critics question his lack of experience,” analyst Alioune Tine tells the BBC.
“But, from Faye’s point of view, the insiders who’ve run the country since 1960 have made some catastrophic failures.”
Fighting poverty, injustice and corruption are top of Mr Faye’s agenda. While working at the Treasury, he and Mr Sonko created a union taskforce to tackle graft.
Gas, oil, fishing and defence deals must all be negotiated to better serve the Senegalese people, says Mr Faye.
He is ushering in an era of “sovereignty” and “rupture” as opposed to more of the same, he told voters, and that is especially true of ties to France.
Senegal’s president-elect says he will drop the much-criticised CFA franc currency, which is pegged to the euro and backed by former colonial power France.
Mr Faye wants to replace it with a new Senegalese, or regional West African, currency, although this will not be easy.
“He will have to deal with the reality of the budget to begin with… But I see that he has a lot of ambition,” former Prime Minister Aminata Touré, who served under outgoing President Macky Sall, tells the BBC.
Strengthening judicial independence and creating jobs for Senegal’s large young population are also key priorities for Mr Faye – neither of which “President Sall paid much attention to and it caught up with him”, Ms Touré adds.
She is not the only political heavyweight to have thrown her support behind the 44-year-old – former President Abdoulaye Wade did the same just two days before Sunday’s vote.
It is a remarkable turnaround for Mr Faye who spent the last 11 months in prison on charges of insurrection, and many more years before that in his ally’s shadow.
‘Bassirou is me’
Bassirou Diomaye Faye was announced in February as the so-called “Plan B” candidate, replacing the charismatic opposition firebrand Ousmane Sonko. “I would even say that he has more integrity than me,” Mr Sonko said proudly.
Both men founded the now-disbanded Pastef party, both men are tax collectors, and both men found themselves jailed last year on charges they said were politically motivated.
Mr Sonko ended up being convicted of two offences, which meant he was barred from the election, so Mr Faye stepped in.
“Bassirou is me,” Mr Sonko told supporters recently. “They are two sides of the same coin,” Pastef colleague Moustapha Sarré agrees.
This has led to criticism that Mr Faye is merely “president by default”.
Not so, says analyst Mr Tine. But the pair’s relationship could usher in a new style of leadership.
“Maybe they will establish a tandem and break away from the hyper-presidential model of having an all-powerful head of state.”
“Sonko is of course the uncontested leader of Pastef – an icon, even… [But] the two have had a [dynamic of] complicity and collusion.”
Once upon a time, Mr Faye wanted nothing to do with politics. “It never crossed my mind,” he said in 2019 while recalling his childhood.
One of Mr Faye’s heroes is the late Senegalese historian Cheikh Anta Diop – whose work is seen as a precursor to Afrocentrism. Both are seen as left-wing cheerleaders for pan-Africanism.
As early results came in on Monday showing Mr Faye was set for victory, people in the capital, Dakar, celebrated by honking car horns and singing to loud music.
The reaction from international markets was less jubilant, with Senegal’s dollar bonds falling to their lowest level in five months. Reuters news agency reports that investors are concerned that Mr Faye’s presidency may wind down the country’s business-friendly policies.
The election was originally due last month but Mr Sall postponed it just hours before campaigning was set to begin, triggering deadly opposition protests and a democratic crisis.
Most candidates had very little time to prepare once the new election date was set – but Mr Faye had just over a week after being freed from jail.
Despite the shortened campaign period, Senegal’s citizens were adamant they would turn out and use their vote, Christopher Fomunyoh – of the National Democratic Institute for international affairs – told BBC Newsday.
“Senegal is in the process of confirming that democracies can self-correct and come out stronger and more resilient.”
And the true test for Senegal’s clean-up guy has only just begun.
A state appeals court ruled that Donald Trump and his co-defendants in the New York civil fraud case have 10 days to post a $175 million bond, down from the $464 million judgment that was originally due Monday.
The 11th-hour ruling from a panel of state Appellate Division judges is a major victory and relief for the former president, whose attorneys had said coming up with the larger bond was a “practical impossibility.” The ruling also means state Attorney General Letitia James’ office cannot yet begin collecting on the judgment.
Before Monday’s ruling, Trump was liable for $454 million, most of the fraud judgment, but the amount he owed had been increasing by more than $111,000 a day because of added interest.
Trump claimed on social media Friday that he had nearly $500 million in cash that he had planned to use toward his 2024 presidential campaign. The former president, however, hasn’t used his own money toward his presidential campaigns since 2016.
He had also floated the idea last week of mortgaging or selling off his properties, saying he would be forced to do so at “Fire Sale prices.”
His lawyers noted in court filings that bond companies typically “require collateral of approximately 120% of the amount of the judgment” — which in this case would total about $557 million.
Trump’s lawyers said in one filing a week ago that they hadn’t been able at that point to secure a bond, and believed it was “a practical impossibility.” They said that they approached 30 surety companies through four separate brokers, trying to negotiate with the world’s largest insurance companies.
The other bond companies will not “accept hard assets such as real estate as collateral,” but “will only accept cash or cash equivalents (such as marketable securities),” his lawyers said.
Trump’s lawyers had asked the state appeals court to either reduce the amount of money he had to post or stay the award without him posting any security while he appeals Engoron’s order.
The decision Monday also puts a stay on the part of the original judgment that barred Trump from serving as a public officer of a company, as well as the prohibitions placed on Weisselberg, McConney, Donald Trump Jr. And Eric Trump.
The court did not grant requests from Trump to prohibit the independent monitor or installing an independent director of compliance. The court also did not stay the provision prohibiting the defendants from borrowing from a financial institution registered or chartered in New York state.
The AG’s office brushed off Monday’s ruling in a statement, saying: “Donald Trump is still facing accountability for his staggering fraud. The court has already found that he engaged in years of fraud to falsely inflate his net worth and unjustly enrich himself, his family, and his organization. The $464 million judgment — plus interest — against Donald Trump and the other defendants still stands.”
Trump celebrated the ruling in a post on Truth Social, attacking Engoron and reiterating that he believes he did nothing wrong. Speaking to reporters outside an unrelated hearing in his New York criminal case, he called Engoron “a disgrace to this country.”
Alina Habba, the former president’s lawyer in the civil fraud case, said in a statement, “We are extremely pleased with the ruling issued by the Appellate Division. This monumental holding reigns in Judge Engoron’s verdict, which is an affront to all Americans. This is the first important step in fighting back against Letitia James and her targeted witch hunt against my client which started before she ever stepped foot in office.”
On Friday, Trump told Fox News he’d appeal Engoron’s ruling “all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.” He must first go through the state appeals court process before he can bring that challenge before the justices.
Trump has valued his brand at over $10 billion, but a 2021 financial statement put his net worth $4.5 billion. He has said that most of his assets are in real estate — not cash or stock — saying at a deposition in the fraud case last year, that he had “substantially in excess of $400 million in cash.”
Trump may have some financial relief coming in the near future.
On Friday, shareholders in Digital World Acquisition Corp. voted to approve a merger with the former president’s Trump Media & Technology Group, the private firm that owns his social media platform Truth Social.
Shares in the newly combined company, Trump Media, could begin to be publicly traded this week, and Trump would have nearly 80 million shares, estimated to be worth around $3 billion.
Under the terms of the merger, Trump is prohibited from selling shares in the merged company for at least six months, but the board of directors, which will likely include his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., could vote to allow him to sell shares earlier than that.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador: The 60 Minutes Interview – CBS News
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Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador talks about his handling of the border, Mexican drug cartels, fentanyl, the Mexico-U.S. relationship and more during a conversation with Sharyn Alfonsi.
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Immigration, the border and the economy have emerged as key issues in this year’s presidential election and may determine who wins the White House. But the person who could tip the scales for either candidate…is another president. Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, widely known by his initials “AMLO.” Charismatic, and often combative, “AMLO” won a landslide victory in 2018 on the promise to root-out corruption, reduce poverty and violent crime. Now, 70 years old and in the final stretch of his term, we met the president in Mexico City for a candid conversation about his handling of immigration, trade, the fentanyl crisis, and the cartels. And he told us why he thinks…when Donald Trump says he is going to shut down the border or build a wall, he’s bluffing.
Sharyn Alfonsi: President Trump is saying he wants to build a wall again.
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): On the campaign.
Sharyn Alfonsi: But you don’t think he’d actually do it?
President López Obrador (in Spanish) No, no..
Sharyn Alfonsi: Because? Because he needs Mexico.
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): Because we understood each other very well. We signed an economic, a commercial agreement that has been favorable for both peoples, for both nations. He knows it. And President Biden, the same.
Sharyn Alfonsi: But what about the people that’ll say, “Oh. But the wall works”?
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): It doesn’t work!
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador
60 Minutes
And President López Obrador says he told that to then-President Trump during a phone call. They were supposed to be discussing the pandemic.
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): It was an agreement not to speak about the wall because we were not going to agree.
Sharyn Alfonsi: And then you talked about it.
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): That was the only time. And I told him, “I am going to send you, Mr. President, some videos of tunnels from Tijuana up to San Diego, that passed right under U.S. Customs.” He stayed quiet, and then he started laughing and told me “I can’t win with you.”
We met President Andrés Manuel López Obrador at Mexico’s National Palace earlier this month. With six months left on his six-year term, López Obrador’s power in Mexico – and influence in the United States – has never been greater. The White House witnessed it – here – last December when a record 250,000 migrants overwhelmed the U.S. southern border with Mexico.
Sharyn Alfonsi: President Biden called you. He sent his Secretary of State. What did they say to you and what did they ask for from you?
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): For us to try and contain the flow of migration.
A month later, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol reported the number of migrant crossing dropped by 50 percent.
Sharyn Alfonsi: So what did you do between December and January that changed that number so dramatically?
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): We were more careful about our southern border. We spoke with the presidents of Central America, with the president of Venezuela and with the president of Cuba. We asked them for help in curbing the flow of migrants. However, that is a short-term solution, not a long-term one.
Mexico also increased patrols at the border, flying some migrants to the southern part of Mexico and deporting others. But by February, the number of migrants crossing into the U.S. began to rise again and the Border Patrol expects a sharp increase in that number this spring.
Sharyn ALfonsi and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador
60 Minutes
Sharyn Alfonsi: Everybody thinks you have the power in this moment to slow down migration. Do you plan to?
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): We do and want to continue doing it, but we do want for the root causes to be attended to, for them to be seriously looked at.
With the ear of the White House – President López Obrador proposed his fix- that the United States commit $20 billion a year to poor countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, lift sanctions on Venezuela, end the Cuban embargo and legalize millions of law-abiding Mexicans living in the U.S.
Sharyn Alfonsi: If they don’t do the things that you said need to be done, then what?
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): The flow of migrants… will continue.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Your critics have said what you’re doing, what you’re asking for to help secure the border is diplomatic blackmail. What do you say?
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): I am speaking frankly, we have to say things as they are, and I always say what I feel. I always say what I think.
Sharyn Alfonsi: If they don’t do those things, will you continue to help to secure the border?
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): Yes, because our relationship is very important. It is fundamental.
For much of the last six years, President López Obrador has held a televised 7 a.m. press conference…five days a week. During our visit he was dissecting “fake news.” The briefinglasted more than two hours.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Is it a pulpit or is it a press conference?
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): It is a circular dialogue, even though my opponents say that I am on a pulpit.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador
60 Minutes
Time is the only luxury AMLO seems comfortable spending. When he took office, he sold the presidential jet, and his predecessors’ fleet of bulletproof cars in favor of his Volkswagen. He uses his daily briefings to rail against “the elite” and enemies, real and perceived. At times it can feel like a political telenovela. At a briefing last month, the president stunned the audience when he read the cellphone number of a “New York Times” reporter – who was pursuing what he viewed as a critical story of him.
Sharyn Alfonsi: It looks like you were threatening that reporter.
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): I didn’t do it with the intention of harming her. She, like yourself, are public figures, and I am as well.
Sharyn Alfonsi: But you know this is a dangerous place for reporters. And you know that threats often come in text and phones. When you put her phone number up behind you, you realized what you were doing.
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): No, no, no, no. No.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Well, what did you think you were doing?
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): It’s a form of responding to a libel. Imagine what it means for this reporter to write that the president of Mexico has connections with drug traffickers… And without having any proof. That is a vile slander.
Sharyn Alfonsi: So then why not just say it’s not true?
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): Because libel, when it doesn’t stain, it smears.
López Obrador’s bare knuckle brawls with the press are in sharp contrast to the softer approach he’s taken with the drug cartels. He dissolved the federal police and created a National Guard to take over public security and he invested millions to create jobs for young people to escape the grip of the cartels. According to the Mexican government, homicides have dropped almost 20% since he took office. The president calls his approach, “hugs, not bullets.”
Sharyn Alfonsi: How is that working out for Mexico?
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): Very well.
Sharyn Alfonsi: There are still 30,000 homicides in Mexico, and very few of those are prosecuted. So, there’s an idea that there’s still lawlessness in Mexico. Is that fair?
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): Of course we prosecute them. There is no impunity in Mexico. They all get prosecuted.
Sharyn Alfonsi: It’s a small percent.
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): More than before.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador during a press conference
60 Minutes
According to México Evalúa, a Mexican think tank, about 5% of the country’s homicides are prosecuted. And a study last year reported cartels have expanded their reach, employing an estimated 175,000 people to extort businesses and traffic migrants and drugs into the U.S.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Can you reach the cartel and say, “Knock it off?”
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): No, no, no, no, no. What you have to do with the criminals is apply the law. But I’m not going to establish contact, communication with a criminal, the President of Mexico.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Are you saying you don’t have to reach out to them or communicate with them?
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): No, no, no, no, no, because you cannot negotiate with criminals.
Sharyn Alfonsi: The head of the DEA says cartels are mass producing fentanyl, and the U.S. State Department has said that most of it is coming out of Mexico. Are they wrong?
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): Yes. Or rather, they don’t have all the information, because fentanyl is also produced in the United States.
Sharyn Alfonsi: The State Department says most of it’s coming from Mexico.
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): Fentanyl is produced in the United States, in Canada, and in Mexico. And the chemical precursors come from Asia. You know why we don’t have the drug consumption that you have in the United States? Because we have customs, traditions, and we don’t have the problem of the disintegration of the family.
Sharyn Alfonsi: But there is drug consumption in Mexico.
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): But very little.
Sharyn Alfonsi: So, why the violence, then, in Mexico?
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): Because drug trafficking exists, but not the consumption.
López Obrador says threats by U.S. lawmakers to shut down the border to curb drug trafficking, is little more than saber rattling. That’s because last year, Mexico became America’s top trading partner.
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): They could say, “we are going to close the border,” but we mutually need each other.
Sharyn Alfonsi: What would happen to the U.S. if they closed the border?
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): You would not be able to buy inexpensive cars if the border is closed. That is, you would have to pay $10,000, $15,000 dollars more for a car. There are factories in Mexico and there are factories in the United States that are fundamental for all the consumers in the United States and all the consumers in Mexico.
Last year, the Mexican economy grew 3% and unemployment hit a record low. But critics says Mexico’s economic growth isn’t because of the president, rather, in spite of him. López Obrador directed billions to signature mega projects like an oil refinery in his home state and a railroad through the Yucatan Jungle…costing an estimated $28 billion.
Sharyn Alfonsi: What about infrastructure? Aren’t there more dire concerns like, you know, clean water, roads, reliable energy, when you’re trying to attract business to Mexico?
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): We are doing both, fixing the roads and building this train. It will link all the ancient Mayan cities and is going to allow Mexicans and tourists to enjoy a paradise region that is the southeast of Mexico.
López Obrador has spent unapologetically on social programs – doubling the minimum wage, increasing pensions, and scholarships. His approval rating has remained high – upwards of 60% for most of his presidency.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Your critics say that you’re popular because you give people money. What do you say?
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): I would say they are partly right. Our formula is simple: It is not to allow corruption; not to make for an ostentatious government, for luxuries; and everything we save we allocate to the people.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Do you think that you’ve been able to get rid of the corruption in Mexico?
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): Yes.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Completely?
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): Yes, basically, because corruption in Mexico started from the top down.
But Transparency International reports no improvement in the corruption problems that have plagued Mexico for decades. Huge crowds gathered last month, accusing the president of trying to eliminate the country’s democratic checks and balances. In June, Mexico will have one of largest elections in its history…in addition to the presidency, 20,000 local positions are up for grabs. The cartels have funded and preyed on local candidates. Last month, two mayoral hopefuls were killed within hours of each other, raising fears of a bloody election.
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): I can travel throughout the entire country without problem. There is no region that I cannot go and visit.
Sharyn Alfonsi: The number of government officials and candidates murdered rose from 94 in 2018 to 355 last year. You don’t view that as a threat to you, obviously, but do you view it as a threat to democracy?
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation) No. There are some specific instances. There is no state repression.
Sharyn Alfonsi: But if a candidate’s afraid to run because they may be assassinated, isn’t that a threat to democracy?
President López Obrador (in Spanish/English translation): Generally, they all participate, there are many candidates, from all the parties.
His hand-picked successor, Claudia Sheinbaum, has a commanding lead in the polls, and could become Mexico’s first female president. López Obrador told us when he leaves office, he will retire from politics and write books. But what he does next at the border –or doesn’t do – could shape the next chapter of the United States.
Produced by Michael Karzis. Associate producer, Katie Kerbstat Jacobson. Broadcast associate, Erin DuCharme. Edited by Daniel J. Glucksman
Sharyn Alfonsi
Sharyl Alfonsi is an award-winning correspondent for CBS News’ 60 Minutes.
With less than a year left in office, what Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador does — or doesn’t do — at the border can shape the next political chapter in the United States.
The White House witnessed López Obrador’s power in December. After a record 250,000 migrants overwhelmed the U.S. southern border, President Biden called López Obrador and asked Mexico to help contain the flow of migrants. A month later, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol reported the number of migrant crossings dropped by 50%.
With the ear of the White House, López Obrador proposed his fix to address the root causes of migration issues: asking the U.S. to commit $20 billion a year to poor countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, lift sanctions on Venezuela, end the Cuban embargo and legalize millions of law-abiding Mexicans living in the U.S.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador
60 Minutes
In a candid interview with “60 Minutes,” López Obrador reflected on his legacy, the border crisis and his new policy to fight the cartels.
His message was clear on immigration: the flow of migrants will continue if the U.S. doesn’t address the root causes. López Obrador’s critics, meanwhile, have said that what he is asking for to help secure the border is diplomatic blackmail.
“I am speaking frankly, we have to say things as they are, and I always say what I feel,” López Obrador said in Spanish at the National Palace in Mexico City. “I always say what I think.”
Why López Obrador says a border closure will never happen
López Obrador is known for speaking his mind every weekday at his press conferences.
On the border, López Obrador said that when former President Donald Trump says he is going to shut down the border or build a wall, he’s bluffing.
Despite their ideological differences and tensions at the border, López Obrador built a working relationship and a personal rapport with the former president.
In 2020, Mr. Trump hosted López Obrador at the White House to mark the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Speaking before the agreement was signed in the Rose Garden, Mr. Trump said that “the relationship between the United States and Mexico has never been closer.”
López Obrador doesn’t think Trump will ever fully shut down the border “because he needs Mexico,” the 70-year-old president said.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador
60 Minutes
“Because we understood each other very well, we signed an economic, a commercial agreement that has been favorable for both peoples, for both nations. He knows it,” López Obrador said. “And President Biden is the same.”
Last year, Mexico became America’s top trading partner. He pointed to cars, noting that prices would spike by as much as $15,000 if the border were closed.
“There are factories in Mexico and there are factories in the United States that are fundamental for all the consumers in the United States and all the consumers in Mexico,” López Obrador said.
Cartels and fentanyl
While Mexico is a big importer and exporter of goods, it’s also a primary source for fentanyl and waypoint for other illegal drugs trafficked into the U.S. according to the U.S. State Department.
López Obrador is quick to point out that fentanyl is also produced in the U.S. and in Canada, and that most of the chemicals for its production come from Asia. Still, U.S. agencies link most of the fentanyl trafficking to cartels in Mexico.
López Obrador has faced criticism for his approach to violence and organized crime. He has invested in college scholarships and job programs as part of an effort to lure young people away from the cartels, a policy he calls, “Hugs, Not Bullets.”
He dissolved the federal police and created a national guard to take over public security.
According to the Mexican government, homicides have dropped almost 20% since López Obrador took office in 2018. There are still around 30,000 homicides a year in Mexico, and some say nowhere near enough of those murders are prosecuted.
“Of course we prosecute them,” López Obrador said. “There is no impunity in Mexico. They all get prosecuted.”
Sharyn ALfonsi and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador
60 Minutes
According to México Evalúa, a Mexican think tank, about 5% of the country’s homicides are prosecuted. And a study last year reported cartels have expanded their reach, employing an estimated 175,000 people to extort businesses and traffic migrants and drugs into the U.S.
But might there be a way to mediate a truce with cartels, as some suggest?
“What you have to do with the criminals is apply the law. But I’m not going to establish contact, communication with a criminal,” he said.
Violence and corruption in elections, government
During his campaign, López Obrador promised to root out corruption and reduce poverty and violent crime. He claims he has “basically” succeeded in completely getting rid of corruption.
But Transparency International reports no improvement in the corruption problems that have plagued Mexico for decades. Last month, a large demonstration in the capital organized by critics of his government accused the president of trying to eliminate the country’s democratic checks and balances.
On June 2, Mexico will have one of its largest elections. In addition to the presidency, 20,000 local positions are up for grabs. But organized crime is not sitting it out.
Cartels have funded some candidates and preyed on others, experts say. Last month, two mayoral hopefuls were killed in the Pacific coast State of Guerrero. In February, two mayoral hopefuls in the state of Michoacán were killed by gunmen within hours of each other.
But López Obrador has made the point that there can be no rich government in a poor country – and leads by example. He cut his salary, sold the presidential jet and got rid of his predecessor’s fleet of bulletproof cars – he prefers to travel in a low-key Volkswagen.
“I can travel throughout the entire country without problem,” he said. “There is no region that I cannot go and visit.”
The president does not view the attacks on government officials and candidates as a threat to democracy. He said he believes candidates will be safe as they run for office.
López Obrador’s hand-picked successor, former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, has a commanding lead in the polls and could become Mexico’s first female president. López Obrador said he intends to retire from politics after he leaves office.
López Obrador’s legacy
Last year, the Mexican economy grew 3% and unemployment hit a record low. The president’s critics say the growth isn’t because of his policies, but rather in spite of them.
López Obrador has directed billions to signature mega projects, including an oil refinery in his home state and a railroad through the Yucatan jungle to promote more tourism.
“It is money very well invested. It is money saved by not permitting corruption,” López Obrador said.
During his term, nearly 10 million Mexicans have been lifted from poverty. López Obrador is known for railing against what he sees as the elite.
The popular leftist has favored spending on social programs, doubling the minimum wage, increasing pensions and scholarships. His approval rating has remained high — above 60% for most of his presidency.
Some of his critics have said he’s popular because he gives people money. López Obrador said there’s some truth to that.
“Our formula is simple. It is not to allow corruption; not to make for an ostentatious government, for luxuries; and everything we save, we allocate to the people,” he said.ffem
Sharyn Alfonsi
Sharyl Alfonsi is an award-winning correspondent for CBS News’ 60 Minutes.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador wields a lot of influence when it comes to curbing migrants illegally crossing the U.S. southern border. And as he made clear in a recent “60 Minutes” interview, he believes that power should be Mexico’s to decide when to use.
Specifically, López Obrador defended his country’s sovereignty in response to hearing House Speaker Mike Johnson say recently that the U.S. could force Mexico to comply with American immigration policy.
“We are not a colony. We are not a protectorate of any foreign country,” López Obrador said through an interpreter to correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi in an interview earlier this month. “And we have a very good relationship with the government of the United States — but not one of subordination.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson has called for President Biden to reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy for migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. While speaking to reporters last month, the Louisiana Republican recalled a conversation he had with Biden, in which Johnson urged him to reestablish the Trump-era policy and said it could potentially control the flow of migrants illegally entering the U.S.
“‘Well, Mexico doesn’t want that,'” Johnson recalled the president answering.
“Mr. President,” Johnson said he replied, “we’re the United States. Mexico will do what we say.”
Former President Trump instated the Remain in Mexico policy, or Migrant Protection Protocols, in 2019. The program mandated that U.S. border officials return non-Mexican asylum seekers to Mexico, where they would wait for months — or even years — for their immigration cases to clear U.S. immigration courts. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 ruled 5-4 to rescind the policy.
In contrast to Johnson, López Obrador told “60 Minutes” that Biden has been respectful of Mexico’s sovereignty.
“Every time I speak with President Biden, the first thing he says to me is that our relationship must be on an equal footing,” López Obrador said.
Other American politicians, however, have not understood this relationship, he said. Instead, they have heaped blame on Mexico for the migration challenge at the border, rather than reaching agreements and addressing what he sees as the root of the issue.
López Obrador also issued a critical assessment of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, whom he accessed of engaging in opportunism and “cheap politicking” with the border.
Two American politicians the Mexican president offered equal compliments for are the two men whose names are likely to be on the presidential ballot this fall. While López Obrador will not be in office when Americans go to the polls in November — his own six-year term is up in September — his attitude toward both Biden and Trump suggests he wants to keep Mexico on good footing with Washington, no matter who wins the White House.
“President Trump, like President Biden, has been very respectful. Both of them,” López Obrador said. “We have had differences, but we have been able to put first the general interest of both peoples, the people of the United States and the people of Mexico.”
The video above was produced by Brit McCandless Farmer and edited by Scott Rosann.
Brit McCandless Farmer
Brit McCandless Farmer is a digital producer for 60 Minutes, for which she has won two Webby Awards and numerous Telly Awards. Previously, Brit worked at the CBS Weekend Evening News, CBS This Morning, CNN, and ABC News.
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Senegalese are heading to the polls Sunday to vote in a tightly contested presidential race marred by months of unrest that threatened democracy in one of West Africa’s most stable nations.
The election will take place after much uncertainty following President Macky Sall’s unsuccessful effort to delay the Feb. 25 vote until the end of the year — and then announcing a surprise amnesty for political prisoners.
Two leading opposition figures were released from prison last week to jubilant celebrations.
Sunday’s election is set to be Senegal’s fourth democratic transfer of power since it gained independence from France in 1960. It is also the first vote without an incumbent on the ballot since term limits were introduced and there is no clear frontrunner among the 19 candidates, including one woman.
“This is poised to be the most competitive election since the introduction of multiparty politics,” Tochi Eni-Kalu, Africa analyst at the Eurasia Group, told The Associated Press.
Analysts say no candidate is expected to win more than 50% of the vote, which means a runoff between leading candidates is widely expected. These include Amadou Ba, a former prime minister, and Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who is backed by popular opposition figure Ousmane Sonko.
Sonko, who came third in the previous election, was barred from running in January because of a prior conviction for defamation. He has faced a slew of legal troubles in recent years that supporters say are part of a government effort to derail his candidacy.
Other potential frontrunners are Khalifa Sall, a former mayor of Dakar unrelated to the president, and Idrissa Seck, a former prime minister from the early 2000s who was the runner up in the 2019 presidential race.
Two candidates dropped out this week to back Faye’s candidacy, a sign of the start of coalition-building that could determine the outcome of the race, according to analysts.
At the forefront of concerns for many Senegalese voters is the economy, which has been squeezed by high food and energy prices partly driven by the war in Ukraine. Unemployment among the nation’s youth is widespread, driving thousands to risk their lives on dangerous journeys in search of jobs in the West.
“Jobs are really, truly the priority. Everyone can see that unemployment is taking over,” said Oumy Sarr, a political activist. “The second priority is the high cost of living in Senegal today. What is to be done to improve people’s living conditions? Inflation is rising, everyone is tired.”
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Associated Press reporter Babacar Dione in Dakar contributed.
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Follow the AP’s coverage of global elections at: https://apnews.com/hub/global-elections/
