López Obrador takes on Mexico’s institutions

Standing beside a sugar cane farmer who uses a wooden, horse-drawn press to squeeze juice into a plastic bucket, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador gave a demonstration of his economic world view.

On a visit to La Huasteca last week, near the Bajío region that is Mexico’s high-tech manufacturing powerhouse, the leftwing nationalist president — who prides himself on not having a checking account or credit card — extolled the virtues of artisanal microbusinesses that he said were “as or more important” in terms of job creation and development than big business.