MEXICO CITY (AP) 鈥 Mexico鈥檚 president acknowledged Tuesday that the armed forces have taken over yet another civilian role: fixing the nation鈥檚 highways.
Filling potholes has now been added to a long list of projects ranging from planes, trains and policing that .
President said 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 L贸pez Obrador claimed those contracts were too expensive and riddled with corruption.
鈥淭here are very few serious construction companies, because they were all rotten with corruption,鈥 the president said.
L贸pez Obrador has given the armed forces the leading role in law enforcement, including the quasi-military 好色tv Guard, and entrusted them with far more duties than his predecessors.
Late last year, L贸pez Obrador . He also said the army would run a passenger train service, in addition to building everything from bank offices to airports.
L贸pez Obrador claims the military is more honest and efficient.
Unlike many militaries in Latin America, Mexico's armed forces have for almost a century kept out of politics and avoided taking a leading, public role.
Critics say L贸pez Obrador's measures threaten to break that tradition and militarize the country.
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