MEXICO’S NEW NAVIGATOR

A fight over a $13 billion project to expand Mexico City’s airport offers an early test for President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (known as “AMLO”), who has pledged to totally upend his country’s politics.

Although he won’t take office until December, AMLO has already waded into national politics in a controversial way—organizing a nationwide referendum on a controversial project to transform the airport into the largest in the world.

The vote, which begins tomorrow and continues through Sunday, isn’t legally binding, but Lopez Obrador has pledged to honor the result when he becomes president. Taking policy directly to the streets is part of Lopez Obrador’s style – he got his start as a community organizer, and as mayor of Mexico City from 2000 to 2005, he often went to the streets to consult ordinary citizens directly on policy issues. This common touch enabled him to put millions on the streets when he claimed he was cheated out of the presidency in 2006. This legacy, and his commitment to pare back the excesses and luxuries of Mexico’s political class, is part of what got him elected president.

Politically he has little to lose here. Many Mexicans view the airport project as a boondoggle for an out-of-touch elite. (Two-thirds of Mexicans have never been on an airplane.) And if the results do favor construction of the airport, ascurrent polls suggest is the case, he can claim popular legitimacy and support the project without being politically tainted by the project’s costs and complications.

Opponents of the vote see a more sinister power play that skirts usual checks and balances. This non-binding referendum will be overseen by an NGO rather than the government. Ballots will be set up in just 500 of the country’s 2,448 municipalities, and fewer than 2 percent of citizens will likely cast ballots. Members of AMLO’s Morena party will be tasked with monitoring voting sites.

The bottom line: In calling this unprecedented referendum, AMLO hopes to bolster his populist credentials. The results, and how the president-elect responds if voters opt to keep the project, will say a lot about Mexico’s political future and whether its next president is more pragmatist or revolutionary.

More from GZERO Media

A woman lights a cigarette placed in a placard depicting Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, during a demonstration, after the Hungarian parliament passed a law that bans LGBTQ+ communities from holding the annual Pride march and allows a broader constraint on freedom of assembly, in Budapest, Hungary, on March 25, 2025.
REUTERS/Marton Monus

Hungary’s capital will proceed with Saturday’s Pride parade celebrating the LGBTQ+ community, despite the rightwing national government’s recent ban on the event.

American President Donald Trump's X Page is seen displayed on a smartphone with a Tiktok logo in the background
Avishek Das / SOPA Images via Reuters Connect

In August 1991, a handful of high-ranking Soviet officials launched a military coup to halt what they believed (correctly) was the steady disintegration of the Soviet Union. Their first step was to seize control of the flow of information across the USSR by ordering state television to begin broadcasting a Bolshoi Theatre production ofSwan Lake on a continuous loop until further notice.

Small businesses are more than just corner shops and local services. They’re a driving force of economic growth, making up 90% of all businesses globally. As the global middle class rapidly expands, new opportunities are emerging for entrepreneurs to launch and grow small businesses.

U.S. President Donald Trump, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at a NATO leaders summit in The Hague, Netherlands June 25, 2025.
REUTERS

The two-day NATO summit at the Hague wrapped on Wednesday. The top line? At an event noticeably scripted to heap flattery on Donald Trump, alliance members agreed to the US president’s demand they boost military spending to 5% of GDP over the next decade.