López Obrador Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography, Facts & More
Some Lesser Known Facts About López Obrador
- Does López Obrador smoke?: Not Known
- Does López Obrador drink alcohol?: Not Known
- He was born in a small village named Tepetitán in the southern state of Tabasco.
- Lopez was born as the first son to Veracruz-based merchants.
- His maternal grandfather was exiled to Mexico from Cantabria, Spain.
- Lopez attended the Marcos Becerra school, the only one in town, and helped his parents at the “La Posadita” store in the afternoons.Â
- His family moved to Tabasco’s capital, Villahermosa in the mid-1960s, where they opened the clothes and shoe store “Novedades Andrés.”
- On June 8, 1969, an incident took place in which his brother José Ramón López Obrador was killed by a gunshot. A theory suggested that Lopez accidentally shot at his brother while playing together with a pistol. The incident affected him deeply.
- After his schooling at Tabasco’s capital, Villahermosa, Lopez went to Mexico City to pursue his degree in political and social sciences at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).Â
- In 1976, Lopez Obrador joined the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and supported Carlos Pellicer’s campaign for Senate seat for Tabasco.Â
- In 1984, Lopez returned to Mexico City to work at the National Consumers’ Institute, a government agency.
- In 1988, he resigned from the National Consumers’ Institute and joined the Democratic Current, led by Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas.
- In 1996, López Obrador gained national exposure when he appeared on National TV drenched in blood following confrontations with the police; as he had blocked Pemex oil wells to defend the rights of local indigenous people impacted by pollution.Â
- After heading PRD from 1996 to 1999, he served as Head of Government of the Federal District from 2000 to 2005.
- During his tenure as Head of Government of the Federal District, Lopez became one of the most discernible politicians in Mexico.
- In 2004, López Obrador was the runner-up in the World Mayor Prize, losing out to Tirana mayor Edi Rama.
- During his stint as Mayor, Lopez kept 80% of the promises he made during his election campaign and implemented various social programs to help vulnerable groups including senior citizens, single mothers, and the physically and mentally challenged.
- López Obrador also led the restoration and modernization of Mexico City’s historic downtown.
- In August 2006, he lost his first attempt at Mexican Presidency to Felipe Calderón. However, on November 20, 2006, Mexican Revolution day, López Obrador’s sympathizers proclaimed him “Legitimate President” in a rally at the Zócalo in Mexico City.Â
- López Obrador is nicknamed as “El Peje,” after a common Tabasco fish, the pejelagarto.
- During his campaign for the Mexican Presidency in 2018, he also earned the nickname of “Mexico’s Trump” for his “Mexico First†agenda that was aligned with Donald Trump’s “America First†ethos.
- During his Presidential campaign, he also said that he would live in his own middle-class home, turn the official residence into an arts center, sell the presidential plane, and slash his salary.
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