Mexico’s president says the army has taken over yet another civilian role: filling potholes

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president has acknowledged the armed forces have taken over yet another civilian role: fixing the nation’s highways. Filling potholes has now been added to a long list of projects ranging from planes, trains and policing that the armed forces now control. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Tuesday the highway maintenance in southern Mexico had been transferred away from the government’s Transportation Department. The department usually gave private companies contracts for road maintenance. But López Obrador claimed those contracts were too expensive and riddled with corruption. López Obrador has given the armed forces the leading role in law enforcement, and entrusted them with far more duties than his predecessors.