Why Mexico's President-Elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador Doesn't Want Security Detail

Mexico's president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who won Sunday's race by a landslide, announced he will travel the country without a security detail.

While Lopez Obrador attended a meeting with outgoing President Enrique Peña Nieto at the National Palace in Mexico City on Tuesday, he did so without security or bodyguards protecting him. The two men met to talk about the transition of power as the new commander-in-chief is set to take office on Dec. 1.

"The people will protect me," Lopez Obrador told reporters. "He who fights for justice has nothing to fear. I do not want to have bodyguards."

The 64-year-old left-wing politician said he will disband Mexico's secret service, a unit of the army, and merge it with the country's military force. He also said he looked to sell the government's private jets in exchange for commercial flights.

Still, many scoffed at the president-elect’s plan to travel without armed guards, including Jose Antonio Crespo, a political analyst for Mexico's Center for Economic Research and Teaching, who called the idea irresponsible.

"It is a little demagogic to say, 'I am just like anybody else, I have no privileges,' when he isn't just an average citizen, he is a head of state," Crespo told the Associated Press. "A good part of the country's stability and rule of law depend on his security and health. It is one of the things I would say is populist about him."

Lopez Obrador's decision to pull his security detail comes amid an uptick of violence against Mexican government officials. A total of 145 politicians have been killed in the country since September, the AP reported.

Meanwhile, 2017 was reportedly Mexico's most murderous year on record, according to government statistic released in January. CNN reported there were about 25,339 homicides in the country last year, an increase of 23 percent from 2016 and the highest number since 1997.