Andrés Manuel López Obrador is a Mexican politician and political scientist who served as the 65th President of Mexico from December 1, 2018, to October 1, 2024. A central figure in contemporary Mexican politics, he is widely recognized as the principal architect of the political project known as the “Fourth Transformation,” which aimed to bring profound change to the country’s political, economic, and moral structure.

Born on November 13, 1953, in the town of Tepetitán in the state of Tabasco, Andrés Manuel López Obrador completed his higher education at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, where he studied Political Science and Public Administration between 1973 and 1976. After graduating, he returned to Tabasco and, from the earliest stages of his career, focused closely on indigenous communities and projects centered on social justice.

He took his first steps into political life by supporting the senatorial candidacy of the renowned poet Carlos Pellicer from Tabasco. In 1977, he was appointed director of the Tabasco Indigenous Institute, where he carried out significant social and cultural initiatives aimed at the Chontal indigenous people. During the same period, from 1977 to 1982, he also served as director of the Chontal Indigenous Coordination Center.

In 1984, Andrés Manuel López Obrador moved to Mexico City and assumed the position of Director of Social Promotion at the National Consumer Institute. In the late 1980s, he left the Institutional Revolutionary Party and joined the Democratic Current led by Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas. On May 5, 1989, together with Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas and Heberto Castillo, he co-founded the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).

Serving as president of the PRD from August 2, 1996, to April 10, 1999, Andrés Manuel López Obrador became nationally known as one of the most outspoken critics of the bank bailout program known as Fobaproa. In 1994, he ran for governor of Tabasco but lost to Roberto Madrazo in an election marked by intense controversy.

From December 5, 2000, to April 7, 2005, Andrés Manuel López Obrador served as Head of Government of the Federal District, effectively acting as mayor of Mexico City. He became the first mayor to serve a full six-year term in that role. In 2004, an international evaluation ranked him as the second-best mayor in the world. In July 2005, he resigned from office to prepare for a presidential run.

Andrés Manuel López Obrador ran for the presidency three times, in 2006, 2012, and 2018. While he was unsuccessful in his first two attempts, he achieved a historic victory in the 2018 election, securing 53.19 percent of the vote and defeating his closest rival by more than 17 million votes. He took office on December 1, 2018, as the constitutional president of the United Mexican States.

Upon completing his term on October 1, 2024, Andrés Manuel López Obrador formally transferred the presidential sash before the Congress of the Union to Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s first female president. Throughout his presidency, his core priorities included combating poverty, reducing social inequality, and rebuilding public ethics.

After leaving office, Andrés Manuel López Obrador withdrew from public life and settled in Palenque, in the state of Chiapas. There, he dedicated himself to writing and research focused on pre-Hispanic cultural heritage and its role in shaping contemporary Mexican society, with the aim of preserving and elevating the country’s cultural, moral, and spiritual values for future generations.

In his personal life, Andrés Manuel López Obrador was married to Rocío Beltrán Medina from 1979 to 2003 and married Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller in 2006. He has a son named Andrés Manuel López Beltrán. A Roman Catholic, he has openly expressed his religious beliefs in the public sphere.

Over the course of his long political career, Andrés Manuel López Obrador has emerged as a leader who left a lasting mark on Mexico’s contemporary history, commanding both strong support and sharp criticism, and whose influence continues to shape the nation’s political landscape.

Source: Biyografiler.com