As the coronavirus pandemic spread globally, Mexican President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador has been criticized at home and abroad for what many called a lackadaisical posture — urging people to hug, shaking hands and kissing well-wishers as he stumped and extolling his personal good-luck charms such as Catholic scapulars, a shamrock and $2 bill.
“Because of our culture, Mexicans are very resistant to calamities,” the president said in a video filmed a week ago in a Oaxaca city eatery and circulated on social media.
“Continue bringing the family to eat in restaurants,” Lpez Obrador advised compatriots, arguing that such activity bolsters “the popular economy.”
But the president and his team have shifted their message radically in recent days, as virus cases have begun surging, urging people to stay home and to practice social distancing — and warning of dire results if that advice is ignored.
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mar 28, 2020 Mexico’s deputy health minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell called on Saturday on all residents in Mexico to stay at home for a month, saying it was the only way to reduce the transmission rate of the coronavirus.
Mexican health authorities said there was a total of 848 confirmed cases in Mexico as of Saturday, 131 more than the previous day, and 16 deaths.
And to think, I'm invested in a company trying to do a good work in the nation being run by this AMLO guy...