page_title: Andrés Manuel López Obrador
section_title: Political agenda
hierarchical_section_title: Andrés Manuel López Obrador / Head of Government of the Federal District (2000–2005) / Political agenda
caption_attribution_description: Español: Fotografía del Ex Presidente de México, Vicente Fox; del Ex Jefe de Gobierno de la Ciudad de México, Andrés Manuel López Obrador y del ex gobernador del Estado de México, Arturo Montiel. English: Picture of Mexican former president Vicente Fox, Mexico City's Mayor Andrés Manuel López Obrador talking back and former Governor Arturo Montiel taken on June 11, 2003.
context_page_description: Andrés Manuel López Obrador is the 58th and current President of Mexico, since 1 December 2018.
  Born in Tepetitán, in the municipality of Macuspana, in south-eastern state of Tabasco, López Obrador graduated from the National Autonomous University of Mexico in 1986 following a hiatus from his studies to participate in politics. He earned a bachelor's degree in political science. He began his political career in 1976 as a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party in Tabasco. His first public position was as director of the Indigenous Institute of Tabasco in 1977, where he promoted the edition of books in indigenous language and the project of the Chontal ridge. In 1989, he joined the Party of the Democratic Revolution and was the party's 1994 candidate for Governor of Tabasco. He was the national leader of the PRD between 1996 and 1999. In 2000, he was elected Head of Government of Mexico City. He left the PRD in 2012 and in 2014 founded the National Regeneration Movement, which he led until 2017. Often described as a center-left progressive democrat and economic nationalist, López Obrador has been a national politician for more than three decades.
context_section_description: As mayor, López Obrador implemented various social programs that included extending financial assistance to help vulnerable groups in Mexico City, including single mothers, senior citizens, and the physically and mentally challenged. He also helped found the first new university in Mexico City in three decades, the Universidad Autónoma de la Ciudad de México.
  López Obrador hired former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani to craft a zero-tolerance policy that would help reduce escalating crime in Mexico City.
  He directed the restoration and modernization of Mexico City's historic downtown, which has 16th- and 17th-century buildings and a large number of tourist attractions. He led a joint venture with super-rich businessman Carlos Slim Helú, a native of downtown Mexico City, to expropriate, restore, rebuild, and gentrify large parts of the area, creating shopping and residential areas for middle- and upper-income residents.
  López Obrador used fiscal policy to encourage private sector investment in housing. He granted construction firms large tax breaks and changed zoning regulations to make construction projects more financially attractive, leading to the construction of more condominiums and office buildings during his tenure than during any other period in Mexico City history. New high-density condos emerged in the upscale neighborhoods of Polanco and Lomas.
  To improve traffic flow in the city's two main inner-city roads, Periférico and Viaducto, he added sections of second stories to their existing infrastructure. About 10% of the total length of those roads was renovated. An express bus service, the Metrobús, based on the Curitiba model, was built down Avenida Insurgentes, cutting through the city some 20 km from north to south.
caption: López Obrador (center) with President Vicente Fox (left) and México State governor Arturo Montiel (right) in June 2003
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