Mexican president says will raffle off government plane

By Sierra Juarez

MICHOACAN, Mexico (AA) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced on Friday that he would raffle off a government plane to raise money for public hospitals.

But the raffle winners will not actually win the plane. The 100 winners will win cash prizes that amount to the cost of the plane. Meanwhile, the government will continue to try to sell the plane.

“This [plane] is a problem that we inherited from excessive governments,” he said. “The most important thing is that this money is going to be used for a very important humanitarian cause.”

The government will sell six million tickets starting on March 1 to Mexican citizens for the raffle, which takes place on Sept. 15, the day before Mexican Independence Day. The tickets will cost 500 pesos, about $25 U.S. dollars.

“It’s a cooperation for medical equipment and hospitals, where the poor are cared for for free,” the raffle tickets read.

The president has been considering the raffle for weeks after over a year of unsuccessfully trying to sell the plane in the United States.

In previous weeks, Lopez Obrador said the money would go toward things like ambulances and medical equipment like X-Rays.

The Mexican public has largely criticized the raffle, which has been regarded as a joke. But without many other options, the Mexican president has continued to pursue the idea.

When he began his term, the president sent the plane to California in hopes of selling the jet. Instead, it sat there for over a year unable to entice a buyer - and racking up over a million dollars in maintenance.

From the beginning of his presidency, Lopez Obrador has criticized former administrations for what he sees as spending excess.

The former president Felipe Calderon ordered the rumored $218 million plane, but it was not delivered until former president Enrique Pena Nieto’s term.

Lopez Obrador campaigned on doing away with government officials’ extra spending, such as the plane. He has eschewed foreign travel and is often seen taking commercial flights.