This week, part of central Mexico City flooded, including the airport. It was heavier than normal rainfall, and there is the usual accumulated trash. But those excuses don’t hold up: the nation’s capital has been neglected for decades. The deterioration of the streets is striking (unlike in any state capital), the collapse of the metro is obvious, and now it’s clear we have severe water infrastructure problems.
The root of the problem is a lack of investment. Virtually no new roads have been built, nor new metro lines, except for those constructed during Ebrard’s administration (2007–2012), which were financed by the private sector and by debt, respectively. The metro line is Line 12—the one that collapsed during the last presidential term—without any real accountability to this day.
At the start of the last six-year term, I wrote about this because it was obvious that what had happened in Mexico City would be repeated nationwide. When López Obrador was mayor (2001–2006), he tested the strategy he later applied to the entire country from 2018 onward. On one side, daily morning press conferences to set the public agenda; on the other, flashy infrastructure projects; but at the core, handing out money.
The flashy project was the second level of the Periférico ring road, over a relatively short stretch, which his secretary of public works refused to build but his environment secretary did: Claudia Sheinbaum. It hasn’t been of much use—unlike the one built during Ebrard’s administration, which, as I said, was privately financed.
The idea of giving away money was one López Obrador had since his days as president of the PRD; he even suggested it to Cárdenas when Cárdenas was mayor. At that time, I worked with Cárdenas and opposed the idea because it was clear there were no resources to fund it. Eventually, spending on maintenance and public investment would have to be cut. But that didn’t matter much—it was about buying votes.
According to INEGI data, social transfers from the city government, which took up 20% of the budget under Cárdenas, rose to more than 25% under López Obrador, specifically in his last two years—when he was already campaigning for the presidency while still mayor. That spending could not be reduced and even surpassed 30% in some years of Mancera’s administration (2013–2018). Sheinbaum, as mayor (2019–2024), was able to spend a bit less because López Obrador centralized all such spending at the national level.
Investment collapsed. While in the administrations prior to 1997 it averaged 17% of the total budget of the then-Department of the Federal District, afterward it barely exceeded 3%. In Cárdenas’s brief term, investment couldn’t be higher because he couldn’t take on debt without federal authorization—and that was severely limited in retaliation for the PRD’s vote against the IPAB. I still believe López Obrador knew this would happen, which strengthened his position: not only would he have a political banner, but with the same blow, he destroyed his political godfather.
Under López Obrador’s city administration, investment fell to 1.8% of total spending. It improved in the next three administrations, but never to the level needed even to maintain urban infrastructure, let alone improve it.
The same strategy has now been applied nationwide. The votes have already been bought—especially in the two years before the election; the money is already gone; we now have useless infrastructure and considerable deterioration of the old. I am no longer talking about what might happen, but about what has already happened. Just so it’s clear who is responsible.