Mexican President Criticized Over Purchase of World's Most Expensive Presidential Plane Oscar Lopez - Latin Times
go to original June 4, 2014

Veteran leftist politician Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador slammed President Enrique Peña Nieto’s plans to spend over seven billion pesos on the new presidential jet, late last year. (Dario Lopez-Mills/Associated Press)

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto is reportedly planning on releasing a private jet this June which is valued at roughly $580 million dollars. This would make it the most expensive plane of its kind, more costly than planes belonging to presidents of the United States, China, Russia or Germany. It is indeed a flying palace: the Boeing jet has twin aisles and can carry up to 250 passengers at a speed of nearly a thousand miles per hour and is capable of making the New York-Athens or Tokyo-Los Angeles routes without stop-overs.

Mexicans have expressed their extraordinary outrage and indignation at the extravagant purchase. What few realize, however, is that the process of purchasing the plane was initiated by Mexico's previous president, Felipe Calderon. All told, it will cost tax payers over 7.5 billion pesos, plus another billion pesos for the Presidential Hangar in the Mexico City airport. As Proceso points out, this amount could be used to build at least eight hospitals such as the new hosptial the president opened on April 22 in Hermosillo, Sonora.

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