Mexico’s federal government spent $36 million on public events and celebrations

The federal government has spent MXN 36 million in massive events, campaign events , state of the union addresses , and AMLOfests .

Journalists from EL UNIVERSAL found that since López Obrador ’s final campaign event in June 2018 and up to April 2020, businesswoman Yazmín Adriana Bolaños López has been granted the majority of contracts to organize these events.

The amount doesn’t include the ceremony organized on December 1, 2018, when President López Obrador took office , which cost MXN 41 million. It included a celebration at the Zócalo , a banquet at the National Palace, as well as the hotel stay and transport of 100 guests.

López Obrador’s last campaign rally, hosted at the Azteca stadium on June 27, 2018, was MXN 3.5 million, while a festival at the Zócalo had a price tag of MXN 8,975,649.

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The event hosted on June 1, 2019, cost MXN 3,390,000.

In 2019, the Independence Day celebration was MXN 13.5 million. The AMLOfest, which took place on December 1, 2019, had a price tag of MXN 4,441,000.

The President’s office has also hired Yazmín Adriana Bolaños to organize events during 2020.

On Army Day , the federal government carried out a public event that included live music. It paid MXN 2,905,320 to Bolaños López for the event.

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During the latest state of the union address that took place on April 5, Bolaños López was in charge of the organization. She received a payment for MXN 82,900,000, even when there were no guests and the Mexican President only read a speech in front of the media at the National Palace.

Between January and April 2020, while the COVID-19 pandemic struck Mexico, the President’s office spent over MXN 500,000 on dinner parties and celebrations , as well as painting and the renovation of the museum room at the National Palace.

On February 12, 2020, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador hosted a dinner party for over 100 business tycoons in a bid to request their help in a raffle . Federal authorities paid MXN 159,100 for the event.

On the anniversary of the death of Francisco I. Madero and José María Pino Suárez, the government paid Yazmín Adriana Bolaños MXN 124,220 to organize the events. It also paid MXN 120,000 for a painting of Lázaro Cárdenas to Ernesto Río, who was hired on February 19 and finished the painting on March 19.

The federal government paid MXN 119,380 for renovations of the Madero room at the National Palace.

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