Mexico’s president vows to eliminate regulatory, oversight agencies, claiming they are ‘useless’

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president vowed Monday to try to eliminate almost all remaining government oversight and regulatory agencies before he leaves office on Sept. 30, claiming they are “useless” and cost too much.

“There are a lot of wasteful agencies that do not serve any purpose,” President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said. “All of these supposedly autonomous agencies have to disappear.”

He vowed to send a bill to Congress to eliminate the federal anti-monopoly commission and agencies regulating telecommunications, the energy market and access to government information.

The president has accused the anti-monopoly commission of trying to block his efforts to increase the power of government-owned oil and energy companies. He has claimed the information access agency processes too many freedom of information requests from the public.

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It is unclear whether López Obrador has the votes in Congress to make the changes. Most of the agencies are enshrined in the Constitution, and changing it requires a two-thirds vote.

López Obrador’s dislike of any kind of oversight, including separation of powers, has been a hallmark of his administration.

He has sought to cut funds for the judicial branch and eliminated requirements for environmental impact statements on government projects. He cut funds for the electoral watchdog organization and sought to limit its powers to enforce electoral rules.

López Obrador had previously mentioned his desire to eliminate external oversight agencies in 2020.

The watchdog groups were created by López Obrador’s predecessors, often to regulate areas that were once state-dominated, like the oil and electricity industries. Those sectors were opened to private competition, something López Obrador also opposes.