On December 1, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, known colloquially as AMLO, took office as the president of Mexico. Speaking on the floor of Congress, he announced the beginning of “a fourth transformation of public life” in the country. Like the war of independence (1821), the period of secular state reforms (1850-1860s), and the massive social revolution (1910) before, the day marked the beginning “not only of a new government but of a new political system.”

By AMLO’s own admission this sounded “pretentious or exaggerated.” Nevertheless, this moment was indeed a towering achievement in modern Mexican political history. Thirteen years earlier he had been on that same floor defending himself as mayor of Mexico City against an impeachment process brought on by the allegedly illegal use of eminent domain laws to build a road to a hospital. Two failed — and one victorious — presidential runs later, Lopez Obrador presides over a congressional majority by his party MORENA (which also controls the Senate). His campaign for presidency trounced 92 percent of districts nationwide, leaving the establishment’s parties in shambles.