Mexican president mulls ending independent watchdog agencies Follow Us
Question of the Day Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gives his regularly scheduled morning press conference known as La Mañanera at the National Palace in Mexico City, Friday, Dec. 18, 2020. Las Mañaneras are a platform for the president to relay information he . more > By MARK STEVENSON - Associated Press - Monday, January 11, 2021
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has long criticized independent regulatory, watchdog and transparency agencies, and on Monday he defended the idea of eliminating them entirely.
López Obrador calls the bodies wasteful and unnecessary, and says the money saved could be spent on health care. But he is also resentful of outside oversight, whether by government commissions or non-governmental organizations.
Critics see setback for democracy in elimination of autonomous agencies Important counterweights to government power would be lost
Published on Friday, January 8, 2021
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Former transparency watchdog officials, business groups and others have slammed President López Obrador’s plan to incorporate autonomous agencies into ministries and other federal departments, warning that the move would eliminate important counterweights to government power and represent a backward step for democracy.
AMLO, as the president is commonly known, said Thursday that his government intends to absorb autonomous organizations such as the National Institute for Transparency and Access to Information (Inai) and the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) into federal ministries and departments. The aim of the plan is to save money and eliminate the duplication of responsibilities, he asserted.