Mexican Messiah: Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador

by George W. Grayson

The emergence of Latin American firebrands who champion the cause of the impoverished and rail against the evils of neoliberalism and Yankee imperialism―Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, Evo Morales in Bolivia, Néstor Kirchner in Argentina, Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico―has changed the landscape of the Americas in dramatic ways. This is the first biography to appear in English about one of these charismatic figures, who is known in his country by his adopted nickname of “Little Ray of Hope.” The book follows López Obrador’s life from his early years in the flyspecked state of Tabasco, his university studies, and the years that he lived among the impoverished Chontal Indians. Even as he showed an increasingly messianic élan to uplift the downtrodden, he confronted the muscular Institutional Revolutionary Party in running twice for governor of his home state and helping found the leftist-nationalist Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD). As the PRD’s national president, he escalated his political and ideological warfare against his former president, Carlos Salinas, and other “conspirators” determined to link Mexico to the global economy at the expense of the poor. His strident advocacy of the “have-nots” lifted López Obrador to the mayorship of Mexico City, which he rechristened the “City of Hope.” Its ubiquitous crime, traffic, pollution, and housing problems have made the capital a tomb for most politicians. Not for López Obrador. Through splashy public works, monthly stipends to senior citizens, huge marches, and a dawn-to-dusk work schedule, he converted the position into a trampoline to the presidency. Although he lost the official count by an eyelash, the hard-charging Tabascan cried fraud, took the oath as the nation’s “legitimate president,” and barnstormed the country, excoriating the “fascist” policies of President Felipe Calderón and preparing to redeem the destitute in the 2012 presidential contest. Grayson views López Obrador as quite different from populists like Chávez, Morales, and Kirchner and argues that he is a “secular messiah, who lives humbly, honors prophets, gathers apostles, declares himself indestructible, relishes playing the role of victim, and preaches a doctrine of salvation by returning to the values of the 1917 Constitution― fairness for workers, Indians’ rights, fervent nationalism, and anti-imperialism.”

Hardcover

First published September 1, 2007

About the author

George Wallace Grayson, Jr. was an FPRI Associate Scholar and the Class of 1938 Professor of Government at the College of William & Mary. He was a senior associate at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, a board member of the Center for Immigration Studies, and a lifetime member of the NAACP. Grayson lectured regularly at the U.S. Department of State, at the National Defense University, and at universities throughout the United States and Mexico.

Reviews

[Andrew Paxman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a much more balanced biography than its provocative title suggests (and which evidently prompted negative reviews on Amazon from people who seem not to have read it). Grayson recognises AMLO (by 2007) as an exception political talent with a special gift for oratory that speaks to common folk and makes them feel heard. Yet he also finds him to be a leader who “stands above the law”, claims a “monopoly on truth”, and “seldom follows the counsel of others”.

In other words, this is a study in populism, but it doesn’t use populism as a starting point, selecting evidence to fit that common reading of AMLO. Rather, it starts with messianism, enumerating a dozen ways in which the politician, consciously or not, borrowed from Jesus in his activism and his rhetoric and was treated or persecuted like Christ by others. Given the religiosity of some of AMLO’s language, and that of some of his followers, this reading is not far-fetched. Woven into each chapter, the argument remains largely persuasive if occasionally overdone.

The research is meticulous, including some 150 oral sources (some interviewed five times or more), most of them current or former colleagues of AMLO’s. The writing is engaging - especially so for a political scientist - and sometimes witty, although a few sections are heavy with context. Reading the book today, what stands out most is AMLO’s consistency: so much of what he did as Mexico City mayor (2000-05) and promised as first-time presidential candidate (2006) foreshadowed his presidency of 2018-24.