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Mexico Says Presidential Plane Sale to Help Fund Migration Plan


FILE - Mexican Air Force Presidential Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner is pictured at a hangar at Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City, Mexico, Dec. 3, 2018.
FILE - Mexican Air Force Presidential Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner is pictured at a hangar at Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City, Mexico, Dec. 3, 2018.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Wednesday the sale of the former presidential jet and other aircraft from the last government would help fund efforts to curb migration under a deal struck last week with Washington.

The agreement reached on Friday averted escalating import tariffs of 5% on Mexican goods, which U.S. President Donald Trump had vowed to impose unless Mexico did more to contain migration via Central America to the United States.

FILE - Mexico's official government seal is seen on a wall of the Mexican Air Force Presidential Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City, Mexico, Dec. 2, 2018.
FILE - Mexico's official government seal is seen on a wall of the Mexican Air Force Presidential Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City, Mexico, Dec. 2, 2018.

In return, Mexico has agreed to toughen up its migration controls, including deploying its National Guard security force to its southern border with Guatemala.

"About how much this plan is going to cost, let me say, we have the budget," Lopez Obrador said at his regular daily news conference. "It would come out of what we're going to receive from the sale of the luxurious presidential plane."

FILE - A bathroom of the Mexican Air Force Presidential Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner is pictured during a media tour at Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City, Mexico, Dec. 2, 2018.
FILE - A bathroom of the Mexican Air Force Presidential Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner is pictured during a media tour at Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City, Mexico, Dec. 2, 2018.

Lopez Obrador said the price tag of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner used by his predecessor Enrique Pena Nieto would start at $150 million, citing a United Nations evaluation. The plane has been on sale for several months.

As soon as he took office in December, the leftist announced plans to sell the plane, whose spacious interior includes a bedroom and is emblazoned with official government seals on the walls and flat-screen monitors.

The jet was acquired in late 2012 for $218 million. It is on sale along with 60 government planes and 70 helicopters.

FILE - The interior of Mexican Air Force Presidential Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner is pictured at Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City, Mexico, Dec. 2, 2018.
FILE - The interior of Mexican Air Force Presidential Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner is pictured at Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City, Mexico, Dec. 2, 2018.

Lopez Obrador has shunned the often luxurious trappings of Mexico's wealthy elites, choosing to fly coach.

He has also rolled out a string of welfare programs for the poor and the elderly, cut salaries for top civil servants, and says he is saving public money by eliminating corruption.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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