Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says he won’t self-quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic because his political enemies would take over the country if he did, according to news reports.
“Do you know what the conservatives want? For me to isolate myself,” the leftist president said, Mexico News Daily reported Monday.
“There would be no leadership or there would be their leadership because in politics there are no power vacuums,” he said. “The voids are filled and that’s what they want, for there to be a vacuum so they can take control … in an irresponsible way.”
Lopez Obrador’s comment comes as the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the nation spiked over 1,000 with 28 dead from the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
The president has come under fire in recent days for ignoring his own social-distancing rules by hugging and kissing supporters in public.
In a highly publicized encounter on Sunday, he met with and shook the hand of Maria Consuelo Luera Perez, the 92-year-old mother of jailed drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, Milenio newspaper said.
Still, the president refuses to go into quarantine, telling reporters he has not displayed symptoms and won’t give his rivals a leg up.