He said the plane, which Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador once described as an “insult to the people” arrived in Tajikistan on Monday, completed the sale of the plane to the government of that country and executed campaign promises. go with it.
Since his election in 2018, Mr. López Obrador, better known as AMLO, has struggled to find a buyer for the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner ordered by former president Felipe Calderón and ordered by his successor, Enrique Peña Nieto used.
“I don’t know why they bought such a big plane,” López Obrador said in Spanish at a ceremony. press conference on Monday.
For years, López Obrador said he offered to sell it to former President Donald Trump, President Biden and Vice President Harris. At one point, Mr. López Obrador tried Lottery on the planecomes with many amenities, including a treadmill.
Mr. López Obrador said: “We cannot sell it because of the luxury of the plane.
In the end, the government of Tajikistan bought the plane for $92 million, or about $1.6 billion Mexican pesos. The sale was announced by the Mexican government last month. The plane then needs to be prepared for the government of Tajikistan. It is unclear how much money was spent on refurbishing it.
At the press conference, Mr. López Obrador showed images of the new design of the jet, which has the words “Tajikistan” in capital letters along the side and has a tail painted to resemble the flag of Tajikistan. .
The government of Tajikistan did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment on the plane on Monday.
The use of such a lavish jet would certainly be criticized in Tajikistan. The country, located in Central Asia and sharing borders with Afghanistan, China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, is one of the poorest countries in the region and relies heavily on remittances, according to the US State Department.
The presidential jet, which is being stored in San Bernardino, California, took off from that state early Sunday morning and arrived in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, at around 7:30 a.m. local time on Monday, according to a statement. information from FlightAware, a flight tracking company.
Mr. López Obrador, who flies commercial airlines on business trips, promised during his campaign that he would sell the plane, earlier calling it “an example of excess.” of former Mexican leaders.
López Obrador said Monday that some of the money from the sale will be used to build two hospitals, one in Guerrero state and the other in Oaxaca.
“If I had used it, we would have spent a lot,” said López Obrador, citing an example of additional costs required for aircraft such as Wi-Fi.
López Obrador said the plane was designed for long-haul flights, adding that it was impractical for domestic flights in Mexico.
“It’s not just the cost of use and maintenance,” said López Obrador. “Technically, it’s not convenient.”
Natalie Kitroeff contribution report.
