Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wants to raffle off the country’s version of Air Force One — saying the $130 million plane he inherited is too fancy for him, according to news reports.
Lopez Obrador, who prefers to fly commercial, said he tried to unload the Boeing 787 Dreamliner on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — but he too thought it was more luxurious than he needed, the Spanish-language news site Artisegui Noticias reported.
Lopez Obrador said he even tried to peddle the plane to the US in exchange for medical supplies, but that hasn’t worked out either, CNN said in a report.
“That’s why it’s going to cost us a bit to sell it, to get rid of the plane,” Lopez Obrador said at a press conference last week. “We’re going to raffle it off.”
The president, who took office in December 2018 as a left-wing populist, has been trying to sell the plane since then — with no luck.
He said the money from the sale of the presidential aircraft could be put to better use helping the country’s poor.
“Money is the mother and father of the devil,” he said. “I don’t want any families destroyed because (the plane) is worth more in goods, and I don’t want to carry that guilt because I am responsible.”
Mexico’s presidential airplaneAPThe craft sparked controversy when it was commissioned by former President Felipe Calderon in 2012 at a cost of $218.7 million — a hefty figure for the cash-strapped nation.
According to a 2018 EuroNews report, the plane features a spacious interior, several flat-screen TVs and an enormous presidential bed with a marble bathroom.
Lopez Obrador has refused to use it since taking office and initially had it flown to a hangar in California — only to have it fly back home a year later because of mounting maintenance costs, according to NPR.
The president wants to print about 6 million raffle tickets that would sell for 500 pesos each — about $27 — and already had a mock ticket drawn up.
He said he’ll make a final decision on the drawing Feb. 15.



