Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador closed out 2019 with a parting shot at his predecessors, saying imprisoned drug kingpin Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán Loera had had the same power as the country's president.
In a video message from the southern city of Palenque on Wednesday, López Obrador recounted his administration's successes in its first year and highlighted its challenges — foremost surging violence. He said he had already done away with the high-level corruption that was rampant in previous governments, but said it was crucial to draw a bright line between criminal elements and authorities so that the two sides do not mingle as they had in the past.
"There was a time when Guzmán had the same power or had the influence that the then president had ... because there had been a conspiracy and that made it difficult to punish those who committed crimes. That has already become history, gone to the garbage dump of history," López Obrador said.