Mexico's AMLO ups ante in attempt to shield flagship projects

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s attempts to push forward with his flagship infrastructure projects like the Maya train, the Tehuantepec interoceanic corridor and certain airports appear to be on course for a head-on clash with the judiciary.

On Thursday evening, the president known as AMLO (pictured) published a decree in the official gazette to declare the construction, maintenance, operation, infrastructure and assets of these projects a matter of national security.

The move was in response to the supreme court overruling a previous attempt to declare them important for national security. 

According to López Obrador, the decree will “shield” the projects from injunctions and other legal measures ordered by judges, whose actions, he said, “are deliberately in bad faith, premeditated, colluded” and determined to stop the works. 

“We must protect, shield these national security and public interest works. Imagine a scenario where the benefits of those projects for residents of southeast Mexico are denied because of the whim of these corrupt snobs,” he said during a press conference on Friday. “So we, the national security council, decided to declare those works of national security and public interest.”

Under the national security law, such works are deemed confidential, something that has sparked criticism among NGOs, specialists and the opposition who warn about opacity in the construction and operation of projects.

Juan Carlos Machorro from law firm Santamarina + Steta said the decree will allow the government to continue the works with little transparency. 

“While the courts can issue a ruling on the decree, this may take months or a year or even longer, and the president can continue [the works] with very little transparency, putting an embargo on project information, without having all the permits, authorizations and requirements,” Machorro said in an interview with BNamericas. 

The lawyer added that this could pose additional risk for those companies interested in participating in the projects.

“They have to be very cautious about the way that contracts are awarded, they have to ensure that the services are paid for annually or that they have inter-annual budgets,” Machorro said. “They also have to consider the possibility that the project isn't going to be finished before the end of this administration but, as long as the contracts are assigned complying with the law, they should move forward and participate.”

This is not López Obrador’s first attempt to shield his emblematic projects from injunctions and other legal action by NGOs. In November 2021, the government published an inter-ministerial agreement in the official gazette to treat the works as matters of national security and allow them to continue despite the legal obstacles.

However, the national institute for transparency and access to information (INAI) contested the agreement, a case that was reviewed by Mexico’s supreme court.

On Thursday morning, the court ruled in favor of INAI by declaring that the 2021 agreement to label the projects as national security-related was invalid. Hours later, the president published the new decree. 

“This is a political confrontation between the executive and the judicial branches of government. Unfortunately, the executive branch is backed by the majority of congress. However, the fact that our supreme court took action [invalidating the previous agreement] is a sign that the judicial system works,” said Machorro.