President Biden is flying to Mexico City this week. Normally, foreign dignitaries land at the large airport in the middle of Mexico City. I’ve landed there many times. It’s a mess because of traffic, but that’s not something that President Biden will have to worry about. So why are we talking about President Biden and a local airport? The answer is that his host, Presidente Lopez-Obrador, wants him to land at the new airport.
This is the story:
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is asking President Biden to land Air Force One at a new airport farther from the center of Mexico City when he visits next month — describing it as a favor to quell domestic criticism of the project.
The unusual request sets up a potentially awkward start to the visit and would require Biden’s motorcade to add time to its commute when the president arrives Jan. 9 for talks with López Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“I am taking the opportunity to tell [Biden] that out of friendship, out of diplomacy, we ask him that his plane land at the Felipe Ángeles International Airport,” the 69-year-old Mexican president, known by his initials, AMLO, said Wednesday at a press conference.
I guess it’s always this or that with AMLO.