Categories: World

Mexico’s President Faints Due To COVID-19 says, “It Was Like I Fell Asleep”

Mexico’s president acknowledged Wednesday he did “briefly faint” over the weekend before he was diagnosed with COVID-19, something his spokesman had previously denied.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said his doctors had been concerned enough to administer a litre of rehydration fluids.

He said in a videotaped chat from the National Palace in Mexico City — where he lives and is isolating — that doctors wanted to fly him back to the capital in a stretcher.

López Obrador had been on a working tour of the Yucatan peninsula Sunday when he tested positive for the coronavirus, his third bout of COVID-19.

But he wrote in his social media accounts Sunday that “it isn’t serious.”

Reports in the local press that day said López Obrador had felt faint Sunday morning and had to cancel his tour, something his presidential spokesman denied at the time.

But on Wednesday, the president acknowledged that it “had become complicated … I had a crisis, because my blood pressure suddenly went down” during a meeting with military engineers working on his pet project, a tourist train on the Yucatan peninsula.

“It was like I fell asleep,” he said.

“I didn’t lose consciousness, but I did briefly faint, because of the low blood pressure.”

The president said he was flown back to Mexico City aboard an “air ambulance,” but specified he was not carried in a stretcher.

López Obrador, 69, who has acknowledged a history of heart problems, said his heart was “not at all affected.”

On Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar, who frequently meets with López Obrador, said he too had tested positive for COVID-19. He wrote in his Twitter account that “I am well.”

López Obrador caught COVID-19 in early 2021 and was ill, but recovered after receiving what he described at the time as an experimental treatment.

In January 2022, he announced he had come down with COVID-19 a second time, amid a spike in coronavirus infections in Mexico.

López Obrador declined to enact mandatory mask mandates and he refused to wear a mask even at the peak of the pandemic unless it was absolutely necessary, as on airline flights. He famously refused to use

Also read: Khalistani Elements Reason For Sikh Division, Radicals Artificially Inflated Their Influence: UK Report

Mexico’s presidential jet, which he recently announced had been sold to Tajikistan.

While López Obrador remains in isolation — he said he has spent the time working on speeches — Interior Secretary Adán Augusto López has been filling in at the daily presidential morning news briefings.

That could provide a boost for the interior secretary’s flagging campaign to win the presidential nomination of López Obrador’s Morena party for the 2024 elections.

López, who is not related to the president, currently trails Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum in most polls of the primary race.

Shruti Chaturvedi

Recent Posts

PM Modi, Yogi Adityanath Extend Navratri Wishes; Highlight Devotion To Maa Durga

On Thursday, PM Modi extended his greetings on the fifth day of Chaitra Navratri, wishing…

29 mins ago

Delhi High Court Orders MCD To Investigate Encroachment On School Land In Wazirpur

The Delhi High Court has directed the Delhi MCD to investigate whether there is any…

31 mins ago

Waqf Amendment Bill 2025: Ensuring Transparency And Securing Property Rights

BJP leader Khem Chand Sharma has expressed strong support for the Waqf Amendment Bill 2025,…

44 mins ago

PM Modi Arrives In Bangkok For 6th BIMSTEC Summit; Indian Diaspora Extends Warm Welcome

On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Bangkok to participate in the 6th BIMSTEC Summit.

49 mins ago

Waqf (Amendment) Bill To Be Tabled In Rajya Sabha After Lok Sabha Approval

The Waqf (Amendment) Bill which cleared the Lok Sabha, is set to be introduced in…

1 hour ago

Lok Sabha Passes Waqf (Amendment) Bill After Intense Debate

The Lok Sabha approved the Waqf (Amendment) Bill in the early hours of Thursday following…

1 hour ago