MEXICAN President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (Amlo) vowed to “end corruption and impunity” in his first official state of the union address on Sunday.

The leftist leader, who was elected in a historic landslide vote last July, gave a damning indictment of the failures of neoliberalism, blaming it for Mexico’s “moral crisis.”

“Nothing has harmed the country more than the dishonesty of the rulers,” he charged.

Amlo said the priority of his government would be ending corruption and impunity.

He said that these primary issues plagued the country during decades of neoliberal rule and undermined its economic development.

The head of state came under fire last week from Mexican Communist Party leader Pavel Blanco Cabrera who accused him of implementing an austerity programme and providing “breathing space for capitalism.”

Mr Blanco claimed Amlo was hiving off public services to the private sector under the guise of tackling corruption and warned that signing up to the North American Free Trade Agreement would weaken workers’ rights and entrench exploitation.

“It is regrettable that various forces in the world believe there has been a ‘left turn’ in Mexico. They will be utterly refuted, as happened in the case of Syriza in Greece. Neoliberals and social democrats govern for the interests of the monopolies,” he said.

But Amlo insisted he would be implementing a bold programme which would tackle many of the issues facing Mexican society.

He claimed his government would break with the neoliberal economic model and focus on four main areas: strengthening a popular economy, promoting private initiatives and trade, developing incentives to attract foreign investment and supporting regional development.

Mexico has been criticised for bending to the demands and threats of US President Donald Trump by detaining and sending immigrants back to Central America from the US-Mexico border.

But Amlo reiterated his plan to lead Central American regional economic development through large projects that would include Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

He said this would help to stem migration patterns from those countries, especially of those bound for the US-Mexico border.

And he said he was taking steps to tackle widespread violence and crime in Mexican society.

“Although we still have to work hard because the results are not good in terms of reducing the incidence of crime in the country, the problem is being addressed and is our main challenge,” he said.