President Andrés Manuel López Obrador rejected this Tuesday that the Government buy back Telephones of Mexico (Telmex) after the magnate Carlos Slim, who acquired the former State company in 1990, recognized that “it is no longer a business.”
“No, no, no, not at all. And it has gone well for Carlos because he is a good businessman, as he has done well for others, almost all businessmen,” the president answered questions from the media in his morning conference.
López Obrador referred to the statements of Slim, who on Monday held a press conference to declare that “Telmex is no longer a business” and “has been in the red for 10 years.”
Analysts attribute the fortune of Slim, the richest man in Mexico and the eighth richest in the world, according to Forbes, to his acquisition of Telmex in 1990, when the state telephone company was privatized under President Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1988- 1994).
Although López Obrador and Slim have previously exchanged criticism over this privatization and other disagreements in political positions, now the president praised his business skills.
“If he, I repeat, has increased his fortune it is because he is a good businessman and, furthermore, because money calls money,” commented the president.
In his conference, the businessman rejected accusations that he has received favoritism from the López Obrador Government, such as in the construction of a section of the Mayan Train.
Without referring to this specifically, the president argued that the profits of Slim and other businessmen during his Government (2018-2024) show that his economic model works.
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“I have already said several times that when the milpa (the corn harvest) does well, it is enough for even the bird. Therefore, they (the businessmen) are verifying that our economic model works, what we call Mexican humanism, which is unique,” he said