Mexican Tycoon Carlos Slim Denies Government Benefits

The Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim, one of the 10 richest in the world, denied that he had benefited from the government of the leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador, during which his fortune increased to exceed $100 billion, according to analysts.

"I don't see what benefits this government has given me or what benefits we have given it," Slim said during an extensive press conference, in which he gave a historical review of his investments and the construction of his fortune.

The businessman, 84 years old and of Lebanese origin, argued that of all the public works carried out during López Obrador's government, his companies were only commissioned to build one of the seven stages of the tourist Mayan Train, one of the emblematic works. of the president.

"Of the seven stages of the Mayan Train we have 2 and of that stage we did not build the viaduct or the station," said the magnate, whose construction companies in Mexico and Spain invoiced about 5,000 million dollars last year. in which public works in Mexico do not "paint", he assured.

The Mayan Train, whose original budget was estimated at about 8.7 billion dollars, would have ultimately cost about 30 billion, according to calculations by the NGO Mexican Institute of Competitiveness.

Last December, a Bloomberg study indicated that Slim's fortune surpassed the $100 billion mark for the first time, driven mainly by a strengthening of the Mexican currency, increasing his wealth by $27 billion in 2023.

Most of Slim's income comes from the telecommunications giant América Móvil, present throughout Latin America, but which collects almost 40% of its income in Mexican pesos, according to Bloomberg data.