López Obrador

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. 

• 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). 

• In 1976, Lopez Obrador joined the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and supported Carlos Pellicer’s campaign for Senate seat for Tabasco. 

• In 1977, he headed the Indigenous People’s Institute of Tabasco. 

• 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. 

• 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.

• He also helped found a new university- the Universidad Autónoma de la Ciudad de México. 

• 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. 

• In July 2018, he won the Mexican Presidency with an overwhelming majority. 

• 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.