Lopez Obrador under fire after Hurricane Otis devastates the port of Acapulco

Frustrations are growing in the Mexican city of Acapulco over the sluggish government response in the wake of a devastating hurricane.

Hurricane Otis roared ashore shortly after midnight on Wednesday with 165mph winds and torrential rainfall, slamming into the coastal city where residents had little time to evacuate or prepare.

At least 27 people are dead and four are missing in Acapulco, according to Mexican officials, although those figures were met with distrust after local media reported that bodies in the city had not been recovered.

Social media was awash in posts from people seeking information about missing loved ones.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s visit to Guerrero state on Thursday was somewhat symbolic of the communities’ struggles as his vehicle became stuck in the mud outside of Acapulco.

The president, known as AMLO, began walking roughly three miles to the city as his staff asked journalists to stop following them, according to local media reports. He later returned to Mexico City by helicopter, Bloomberg reported.

Mr López Obrador admitted that the government response had been hampered by the hurricane’s impacts during his visit to the city on Thursday.

“When is the government ever going to look after the common people?” one resident asked, according to The Associated Press.

The disaster renewed criticism of López Obrador’s policies including the fact he canceled Mexico’s widely-admired Fund for Natural Disasters, known as Fonden, in 2021.

At the time, Mr. López Obrador, a folksy, left-wing populist, justified his decision by claiming Fonden was “an instrument riddled with corruption,” whose funds did not “reach the people”.

Mr López Obrador furiously accused his critics of playing politics during a tragedy and insisting the entire public budget was there to support the Mexican people.

TYT Newsroom