Times Mag Interview

This week's The New York Times Magazine has an interesting interview with an unexpected subject: former Bogotá mayor Enrique Peñalosa, who has earned "wide praise for making the city a model of enlightened planning."

Oddly enough, just as I began wondering why we don't see more such interviews in the Times Magazine, my old friend Guillermo Sulzberger passed along this lost transcript of a canceled in interview with none other than Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Enjoy! And thanks, Memo!

Q: Are you running for president in 2012?
A: If the people want me. And they will.

How do you react to people calling you messianic?
That’s nonsense.

Is there another candidate who deserves the presidency?
No. Only I can save Mexico.

From what?
The mafia.

The drug cartels?
No, the mafia that stole the election from me. From us.

And what does the mafia want to do to Mexico?
To steal from the mouths of all Mexicans.

Steal what?
Our patrimony. And elections, too. But mostly our patrimony, starting with the oil.

But why is the oil in the mou…let’s change directions. You helped make Mexico City one of the most unlivable cities in the world. How?
That’s merely your opinion. Mexicans love it.

Transparency International ranked it the most corrupt city in the country.
But we now have a double-decker highway. A MetroBus, too. The city is far more beautiful than it ever was before. Honestly, I’m just the voice of the pueblo. Their servant. The Mexican people told me what they wanted.

And what they wanted was a lack of financial transparency, rising crime rates, chaotic traffic, et cetera?
This is a conspiracy against me! Why do you only focus on those three things?

OK, mayoral aids betting millions in Las Vegas?
To hell with this institution! I call on all loyal Mexicans to join me in physically preventing this interview from continuing! [Rattling sounds as a tent goes in the office. Stop tape.]