AMLO’s wife wants to be different kind of Mexican first lady

Beatriz Gutierrez Müller, the wife of President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador , said she wanted to be a different kind of first lady while adhering loosely to Mexico’s political traditions.

National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) historian Sara Sefchovich told EFE that Gutierrez Müller, “just like other first ladies in the past, has asked her husband to be named to a post in an area of interest.”

Even though the wife of Lopez Obrador, popularly known as AMLO, has said that she will not play the traditional role of first lady, she will be in charge of the National Honorary Council for the Coordination of Historical and Cultural Heritage.

Traditionally, Mexican first ladies have served as the honorary presidents of the Comprehensive Family Development System (DIF), an unpaid post with ceremonial functions.

Gutierrez Müller “asked her husband for a position in charge of a subject of her interest. Other first ladies, like Mrs. Lopez Mateos, Mrs. Echeverria and Mrs. Lopez Portillo, asked their husbands for a post in an area, such as education, crafts or music,” Sefchovich said.

Lopez Obrador said that “Beatriz has decided she doesn’t want to be first lady. She respects those who have taken on the role in the past, and the wives of the ex-presidents, but those were other times.”

Gutierrez Müller said in a Twitter post that she would not receive a government salary or manage any budgets, adding that she planned to continue teaching and working on cultural affairs.