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By Mark Stevenson

The Associated Press

MEXICO CITY 鈥� Mexican President Andr茅s Manuel L贸pez Obrador last week inaugurated one of his prominent building projects: a new Mexico City airport that reflects the contrasts and contradictions of his administration.

There is government austerity 鈥� his main campaign promise is fully on display in the rather bare-bones terminal 鈥� as well as his customary outsize reliance on the Mexican army.

But there are also widely ridiculed government claims about how long it will take passengers to reach the new terminal, located 27 miles from the city center, and repeated complaints by the president that there is a conspiracy in the press to besmirch his new airport, which is named, of course, after an army general, Felipe Angeles.

鈥淚t is such an important project that our adversaries want to sling mud at it,鈥� L贸pez Obrador said of the army-built terminal constructed at a military base. 鈥淭here is a whole campaign refusing to recognize that was a very good decision.鈥�

The president sees the new airport as a symbol of his twilight battle against privilege, conservatism and ostentation 鈥� things he despises. He reviles more than anything (expect perhaps foreign advice) the idea of 鈥渁 rich government in a poor country.鈥�

L贸pez Obrador found an easy target in the vastly expensive, architecturally daring project started by his predecessor to build a huge, flashy new airport in a swamp on the city鈥檚 eastern edge, much closer to the city鈥檚 center.

L贸pez Obrador decided to cancel that and build the new airport on firmer soil to the north. It is projected to cost $4.1 billion, which L贸pez Obrador claims is less than one would鈥檝e been on the swampy site, which might have required billions of dollars in maintenance because of the waterlogged soil.

The new airport will run in tandem with Mexico City鈥檚 existing airport, whose two, saturated terminals had been scheduled for closure under the earlier plan.

It is one of four keystone projects L贸pez Obrador is racing to finish before his term ends in 2024 鈥� the airport, an oil refinery, a tourist train in the Yucatan Peninsula and a train linking Gulf coast and Pacific seaports 鈥� reflecting his vision that his is not just a normal, six-year presidential term. Mexico does not allow re-election.

He sees himself as leading a historic, irreversible 鈥渢ransformation鈥� of Mexico, and he has turned to building projects 鈥� and the army 鈥� to guard that legacy. The army will own and operate some of the projects after they鈥檙e finished.

鈥淏ecause of L贸pez Obrador鈥檚 revolutionary rush to deliver everything he offered in six years, which is obviously impossible, he has done everything in an improvised way,鈥� political analyst Jos茅 Antonio Crespo said. 鈥淗e has said several times this is not just another administration; this is a revolution.鈥�

When his Maya Train tourist project ran into problems 鈥� engineers found they couldn鈥檛 build an elevated stretch along the Caribbean coast because it would mean closing the region鈥檚 only highway 鈥� they simply began running the line through the low jungle.

No comprehensive environmental impact statement or feasibility plan was ever drawn up for the project. Nobody knows how many tourists will even use it.

A rush to complete projects before one鈥檚 political term ends is not uncommon in Mexico but has proved dangerous in the past. L贸pez Obrador鈥檚 foreign relations secretary, Marcelo Ebrard, rushed a Mexico City subway line to completion in 2012 before he left office as mayor. An elevated section of that subway line collapsed due to construction defects in 2021, killing 26 people.

In the case of the airport, L贸pez Obrador has waved off concerns about feasibility and profitability. It鈥檚 so far from the city center that all major international airlines have shunned it. So far, the only international flight is run by a Venezuelan carrier that is under U.S. sanctions and flies only to Caracas.

Most of the president鈥檚 decisions on what to build and where appear to be highly personal. To justify them, he has held 鈥渞eferendums鈥� for which only relatively small numbers of voters, mainly his supporters, turn out.

The new airport has been built for less than half the cost of his predecessor鈥檚 project, but it鈥檚 not clear how many people will use it. Few flights have been scheduled yet, and key road and rail links remain to be constructed.

L贸pez Obrador鈥檚 administration claims it will take only 90 minutes for residents to reach the new terminal from the south side of the megalopolis of 20 million people.

That may be true when highways are clear, but the normally snarled streets could turn that into an unpredictable journey of 2陆 hours 鈥� longer than some of the domestic flights themselves.

Jos茅 Antonio L贸pez Meza, an engineering consultant who has visited the new terminal, said 鈥渋t鈥檚 hard to get there and we know that. I鈥檝e been there, and it鈥檚 a very long trip 鈥� It takes two hours from Polanco,鈥� a neighborhood near the center.

Perhaps to compensate, L贸pez Obrador鈥檚 government has fiddled with the rules.

His administration changed the rules that usually require passengers to show up two hours before a domestic flight, and three hours before an international flight. At the Felipe Angeles terminal, they will be required to show up only one or two hours before those flights.

And L贸pez Obrador decreed that any new flights will have to go through the new Felipe Angeles terminal, though travelers prefer the older, closer terminal.

鈥淚t means forcing the airlines, if they want to come to Mexico, they have to do it through Santa Lucia,鈥� as the new airport is also known, Crespo said. 鈥淭he risk is that many airlines might say, 鈥淲ell, then I won鈥檛 fly to Mexico.鈥�

L贸pez Obrador also has been known to fiddle with figures. He often claims Mexico鈥檚 coronavirus death rate is lower than that of the U.S. 鈥� something that even Mexico鈥檚 own government figures show is untrue: A government study of death certificates suggests about 500,000 COVID-19 deaths in Mexico, compared to about a million for the U.S., which has about 2陆 times Mexico鈥檚 population.

Also, Mexico performed so little testing during the pandemic that L贸pez Obrador can point to a lower number of test-confirmed deaths 鈥� about 322,000.

L贸pez Meza, the engineer, said the army has done a good job building the new terminal in just a couple of years, and accepts L贸pez Obrador鈥檚 argument against the old project.

鈥淭his airport is more austere,鈥� L贸pez Meza said. 鈥淭he other one was going to be very pretty, very impressive, but as an engineer I can tell you the building site was a mistake. It was going to sink.

鈥淚t鈥檚 good that it鈥檚 going to be cheaper and functional,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want a luxurious, pretty airport. The truth is that the conditions of my country and our people are not appropriate for the airport they were going to build.鈥�