Lopez Obrador Is Making Mexico’s Tragedy Worse

The Covid-19 pandemic confronts governments around the world with two overlapping emergencies: the virus itself and the economic collapse it’s causing. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is failing on both.

Coronavirus cases continue to rise in Mexico, with thousands newly diagnosed every day. The country’s ratio of deaths to confirmed cases is the second-highest in the world, after the U.K.’s. The economy is projected to contract by at least 7.6 percent this year — and could slow even more due to the resurgence of the virus in the U.S., the country’s biggest trading partner. A United Nations report estimates that the number of Mexicans living in extreme poverty this year could rise from 11 million to 17 million, or 13% of the population, the biggest increase in the region.