MEXICO CITY (AP) 鈥 Outgoing President Andr茅s Manuel L贸pez Obrador turned his final morning briefing Monday into a variety show featuring live music, breakfast and a raffle to gift his watch to a journalist.
鈥淚 dedicated myself to serve the people,鈥 the 70-year-old leader said. 鈥淚 leave very satisfied to have the affection of many Mexicans.鈥
Outside the 春色直播 Palace, hundreds of boisterous supporters of the showered him with love while mariachis gave a brassy serenade.
Despite having historically high approval ratings and majorities in Congress, L贸pez Obrador never proposed changing the constitution to open the possibility of a second six-year term as other Latin American leaders have. He did, however, push through sweeping constitutional changes and the country鈥檚 in his final days.
Monday was , a radical change he brought to the presidency after years of less accessible leaders. His briefings, known as 鈥渓as ma帽aneras,鈥 set the day鈥檚 agenda and gave journalists the opportunity to ask questions, though L贸pez Obrador addressed what he wanted 鈥 and ignored what he didn鈥檛.
On Monday, he talked about his achievements 鈥 as he has for the past six years 鈥 noting that today someone earning the minimum wage can buy twice as many kilograms of tortillas and eggs as they could before because he raised that wage and beat back inflation.
After the briefing, some reporters 鈥 who became regular fixtures at the 鈥渕a帽aneras鈥 and didn鈥檛 hide their support for L贸pez Obrador, gave interviews to other journalists. Some shouted that they wanted to give the president parting gifts or take a final selfie with him. The reporter who won the president鈥檚 watch leaped euphorically from his seat when his name was called.
After Tuesday鈥檚 inauguration, as he has promised many times, L贸pez Obrador will retire to his ranch in the southern state of Chiapas and leave public life.
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