AMLO sells presidential plane for 1,659 million pesos

AMLO
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Mexico's president, speaks during a news conference in Mexico City, Mexico, on Tuesday, Aug 16, 2022. President Lopez Obrador restated Monday that Mexico won't buy gasoline or diesel next year because the nation will become energy self-sufficient. Photographer: Alejandro Cegarra/Bloomberg

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced that this Thursday the purchase-sale contract for the presidential plane TP01 was signed with the government of Tajikistan for 1,659 million pesos (92 million dollars).

In a video shared on his social networks, the president said that he will allocate the resources to the construction of two 80-bed hospitals in Tlapa, Guerrero and Tuxtepec, Oaxaca; as he anticipated in his morning conference.

López Obrador recorded the video from the presidential plane, accompanied by the Secretary of National Defense, Luis Crescencio Sandoval; Ernesto Prieto, general director of the Institute to Return the Stolen to the People (Indep) and Jorge Mendoza, general director of Banobras.

 The transaction is closed, we have already received the resources in full, they are in the account of the Institute to Return the Stolen to the People

 Mendoza assured.

The official explained that the agreement will generate savings of 332 million pesos in interest derived from the lease to Banobras, which will in turn be deposited in the Federal Treasury (Tesofe) to allocate to projects in the health sector.

He added that the operation was carried out through the State Investment and Administration Committee of Tajikistan, a Central Asian country, which will have 10 days to take the aircraft.

The sale of the presidential plane was one of López Obrador’s campaign promises and despite the fact that he boasted offers and interested parties on numerous occasions, none had prospered until now.

In its more than four years in search of a buyer, resources had to be allocated to the maintenance and protection of the aircraft, while the government contemplated alternatives such as renting it to individuals and even held a symbolic raffle.