AMLO’s investment strategy for interoceanic corridor remains solid – expert

Although Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s (AMLO) plans to attract private investment to the Tehuantepec Isthmus region are lagging behind schedule, the strategy to promote the area is still solid, an expert told BNamericas.

“Results haven't been obtained, but it hasn't stopped,” said José Ignacio Martínez, a coordinator at economic and trade think tank Lacen. 

AMLO announced in early February that he would travel to the Tehuantepec isthmus with a group of US legislators to promote investments in his flagship interoceanic corridor across the country's southeast, which requires the private sector to build 10 industrial parks along the 300km freight line being rehabilitated between the Gulf and Pacific coasts. 

At the time, he also said that the tenders for the industrial parks would be launched shortly and that four of the 10 will include wind farms that will be financed by US banks and managed by state-owned power utility CFE. 

But on Sunday, 12 US legislators were received at the national palace in Mexico City (pictured), where they met several members of AMLO's cabinet, including the director of the Tehuantepec isthmus rail corridor, Raymundo Morales Ángeles. However, later that day, López Obrador traveled by himself to the region.

“A lot had to do with the agenda,” Martínez explained, rejecting the idea that the trip was canceled due to lack of interest from the US. 

The project is “in the plans of the White House and some businesspeople,” he said, recalling that following US Vice President Kamala Harris’ visit to Mexico in 2021, President Joe Biden's administration announced that it would “aim to create US$250mn in new investment and sales in southern Mexico.” 

Martínez said, “beyond the legislative issue, what is being sought is a visit, and that's where work is being done, on the business issue because, although the legislative issue [is important], the important thing here is to seek interested figures in the private sector.”

The expert said that another factor that may have affected the legislators’ trip to the Tehuantepec isthmus could be the recent dispute between the Mexican president and right-wing US congressmen, who have proposed declaring drug cartels terrorist groups and having the US army directly engage in security matters in Mexico.