Plans for 2022 Include Airport’s Completion/Omicron Surges

2022 outlook. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that he hoped 2022 will be a year in which all Mexicans will do very well, adding that he was optimistic that the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic has passed. López Obrador also said that one of his main goals for 2022 is to complete construction of the Felipe Ángeles Airport, the Olmeca refinery and the Mexico-Toluca Train, which are almost finished. "We are going to deliver two large projects, including the Felipe Ángeles Airport on March 21.” López Obrador said the project’s cost would be “around MX$75 billion (US$3.6 billion).”

Wellness bazaar. Rosa Icela Rodríguez, head of the Ministry of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC), said the government is providing 3.5 million new goods for free to families living in poverty in Mexico, through the Tianguis del Bienestar. She said that from January to March, 40 municipalities would be visited in the Mixtec zone and in the highlands of Chiapas.

COVID-19. Addressing the increase in COVID-19 cases in Mexico in recent days, López Obrador said it was due to the omicron variant but that hospitalizations remain at a low level throughout the Mexican Republic. “We think that infections will increase but this variant is not as serious as the (delta) variant, which affected us a lot. In the US, they are claiming that it is five days of rest and the symptoms do not have the same characteristics as (delta), which was more harmful," he said. Given the circumstances of the virus, 11 states have delayed the return to face-to-face classes agreed for Jan. 3. The SEP assured that in the first weeks of 2022, the booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine will be administered to teachers, administrative and educational support personnel to guarantee security in schools and the proper operation of educational services.

Mexican businessmen. López Obrador was very clear that businessmen "cannot complain" that they have been affected by the decisions of their government, but on the contrary, they have been granted facilities to invest. “I think we have given great support to the entire business sector in Mexico, so much so that that is why we are growing, and Mexico is moving forward, facing the crisis of the pandemic," he said.

AMLO statue. López Obrador sent a message to the people who made a statue in his honor in Atlacomulco. "I love you very much and I thank you for your initiative." The statue was later demolished and López Obrador said that those who destroyed it do not matter, that the important thing was to know that he is grateful, although he warned that he does not approve of cult-like actions surrounding personalities, reiterating that he would not like streets, libraries or statues to bear his name.

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Click HERE for full transcript in Spanish