MEXICO CITY, April 11 (NNN-EFE) — Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Wednesday criticized the news media for putting out unfounded reports in the past few days about resignations of officials that never took place.
“This is a product of hatred and bad faith … They are very nervous and need to drink more linden tea” to relax, Lopez Obrador, popularly known as AMLO, said during his daily press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City.
The president ripped the opposition and some media outlets that have been critical of his administration, which took office on Dec. 1, saying that they “invent a lot of stuff” even though there was more “freedom” and a greater “right to dissent” since his inauguration.
Lopez Obrador, the founder and leader of the leftist National Regeneration Movement (Morena), said he would not hesitate to exercise the “right to respond” to fake news and criticism of his administration.
On Monday, a newspaper reported that Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard tendered his resignation to Lopez Obrador on April 2, something the president said never happened.
“The information in this story is totally false. The event referred to in the headline only occurred in the sphere of fantasy. We continue working with zeal and commitment,” Foreign Relations Secretariat spokesman Roberto Velasco said on social media.
A radio station reported that Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero, who is 79, was going to resign due to illness.
Federal officials told EFE the report was false.
“Now, they came out and said that (Gertz Manero) was sick and was very ill. I thought about speaking with him about his health and later learned that he was at work,” Lopez Obrador said.
Gertz Manero met this week with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, who told Lopez Obrador that the AG was “very enthusiastic about carrying out his duties.”
AMLO said his administration respected the separation of powers with the judicial and legislative branches, as well as the independence of the Attorney General of the Republic’s Office, saying this was “not the case before.”
The president said he had “not even” spoken with Gertz Manero since naming him AG on Jan. 18 even though he and the jurist were friends.
AMLO’s inner circle and Morena officials have repeatedly criticized what they labeled a campaign to smear Lopez Obrador with fake news spread over the Internet. — NNN-EFE