US Media Falsely Portrays AMLO’s Comments as Pro-Cartel
© AFP 2023 / PEDRO PARDO
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Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Friday during a press conference in Veracruz, that his government will not “act as policemen for any foreign government” in what he described as a “Mexico first” policy, noting “Our homes come first.”
The comments were painted as López Obrador’s justification for “his refusal to confront” drug cartels in Mexico by US media outlets.
However, the comments came after López Obrador was asked a question about the US Ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, who recently appeared with several Mexican ministers and praised the Mexican judiciary. López Obrador is currently engaged in a feud with the Mexican supreme court, arguing that it has become corrupted and proposing that judges be elected through popular vote. The reporter asked López Obrador if Salazar was interfering in Mexican affairs.
NEW— The US Ambassador to Mexico gives a rare public endorsement to the Mexican Supreme Court weeks after President AMLO presented a controversial proposal to select all judges in Mexico by popular vote & which critics argue seeks the weakening of the Judiciary branch. https://t.co/Kj7wgTvK3d
— José Díaz Briseño (@diazbriseno) March 20, 2024
López Obrador said that he has a good relationship with US President Joe Biden’s administration while also noting the same about former President Donald Trump. He denied that it was interference but did seemingly imply that the ambassador’s comments were related to the Biden administration’s opposition to López Obrador’s “hugs not bullets” program, which focuses on addressing corruption and poverty over the aggressive confrontation of his predecessors. For years, Mexican streets were the site of bloody battles between authorities, including the military, and cartels, sometimes spilling over into the civilian population.
“Our adversaries are looking for anything, I don’t know what is wrong with them,” López Obrador said. “They are very angry, nervous, but there is no problem [between the United States and Mexico.]”
The comment were painted as one that “harkens back to the 1970s a period when many officials believed that Mexican cartels selling drugs to gringos was a US issue, not a Mexican one,” but López Obrador’s comments did not downplay opioid epidemic in the US.
“What we want is peace, tranquility in our country, no murders, no kidnappings. We are not going to act as police for any foreign government. Mexico first, our homes come first,” López Obrador said. “Of course, we do help and cooperate in the fight against drugs. Above all because it has already become a very delicate, sad humanitarian issue because a lot of young people are dying in the United States because of fentanyl.”
López Obrador, nicknamed AMLO, also mentioned his recent letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping, asking him for help to control the flow of fentanyl.
Earlier in the press conference, López Obrador denounced his “neoliberal” predecessors and conservative opposition.
“In the case of violence, [López Obrador’s opponents] are looking for him everywhere, ‘Naro-president AMLO’ spending millions of pesos. Where is the evidence? [It’s] slander,” López Obrador said. He praised the Mexican people, 73% of whom approve of his job performance according to a recent poll, for not falling for the ruse.
“[The slander] does not work for them. Because it turns out that the people are very informed, very aware and they do not accept that,” he explained. “The people are aware of what is happening and the mentality of the people has changed.”
Cuitlahuac Garcia, the governor of Veracruz, also spoke during the press conference and touted the success of the “Hugs not bullets” program in his state. He noted statistics showing that homicides are down 52% in Veracruz since 2017 and kidnappings are down 91% since 2019. He also mentioned López Obrador’s “no immunity" policy, which has greatly increased sentences for both homicides and kidnappings, contrasting with the portrayal of López Obrador as soft on crime.
