SUMMARY – MORNING PRESIDENTIAL PRESS CONFERENCE – TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 2024

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador clarified that electoral authorities cannot prohibit the morning presidential press conferences. «They cannot silence us; that would violate the Constitution. They do not have the power to do so; they would be violating freedoms,” he said.

The Mexican government condemned the killing of Bertha Gisela Gaytán and Adrián Guerrero, Morena candidates for mayor and city council of Celaya, Guanajuato. The government pledged that that both homicides will not go unpunished. «What occurred is very regrettable because these were people who were fighting for democracy to prevail, they were in the street showing their faces, fighting for others,» the President said. An investigation is underway as to why the Electoral Institute did not provide protection to the candidates.

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The Ministry of Security and Citizen Protection has 108 requests to provide protection to candidates for federal office. Of these requests, 86 have been accepted, 10 have been declined, and 12 are under risk analysis. In the current election campaign, there are about 70,000 candidates running for office.

Since March 19, 2022, the Program for the Regularization of Vehicles of Foreign Origin has regularized the status of 2,185,408 vehicles. This has resulted in more than 5.46 billion pesos (US$329.96 million) in fees being collected, with the funds earmarked for the improvement of streets and avenues.

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Between March 19 and April 1, the Mexican government seized 12 clandestine drug labs, which prevented the production of more than 32.43 tons of methamphetamine, with a street value of more than 9.77 billion pesos (US$589.39 million).