MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s presidential jet has been sold to the Tajikistan government, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Thursday, marking a possible end to a long-running political saga that the Mexican leader used to assail past excesses.
In posts on his social media, Lopez Obrador said the agreed sale price for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner used by his predecessor Enrique Peña Nieto – but never by him – was about 1.66 billion pesos, or about $92 million at the current exchange rate.
The populist leftist who has for years railed against corruption of political elites, had previously said he hoped to sell the aircraft for at least $150 million.
Shortly after he took office in late 2018, he announced plans to sell the jet, which featured marble touches and official government seals emblazoned on the walls along with multiple flat-screen monitors.
Lopez Obrador, who makes a point of flying on commercial flights when he does travel, said the proceeds of the sale will be used to build two public hospitals in southern Guerrero and Oaxaca states, among the country’s poorest regions.
“They will be built by military engineers and will be inaugurated before my term ends,” he added.
($1 = 17.9941 Mexican pesos)
(Reporting by Isabel Woodford and David Alire Garcia; Editing by Stephen Coates)
