Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador during one of his regular press conferences next to the letter sent by the Mexican government to US President Joe Biden. Photo: El Tecolote Diario.
Caracas, May 6, 2023 (OrinocoTribune.com)—The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, asked his US counterpart, Joe Biden, to stop his government from funding organizations that are “openly opposed to the legal and legitimate government” of Mexico, since “it is clearly an act of interventionism, contrary to international law and the respect that should prevail among independent and sovereign states.”
During his morning press conference on Wednesday, May 3, in response to a question by journalist Nancy Flores of Contralínea, AMLO showed the letter he had sent to Biden the day before, asking the US president to stop the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) from funding opposition parties and associated NGOs, such as Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity (MCCI) and Article 19 that are trying to destabilize the government of Mexico.
“I would like to express briefly,” said the letter, “that for some time now, the United States government, in particular the United States Agency for International Development, has been financing organizations openly opposed to the legal and legitimate government that I represent, which is clearly an interventionist act, contrary to international law and the respect that should prevail among independent and sovereign states.”
“Moreover,” the letter continued, “a few days ago it was announced that said agency [USAID] will increase the budget granted to organizations opposed to our government, as published in the official page of the State Department.”
However, President López Obrador cautiously added that he believes that Biden in unaware of the matter, “and therefore I respectfully ask for your valuable intervention” to put an end to these interventionist actions. AMLO went on to add that initially he had considered not sending the letter, but finally decided the contrary, as “this is a matter of principle, of defending the country, so that future generations should not wonder why this type of violations against the nation’s sovereignty were allowed.”
The letter was handed over to Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, Biden’s presidential advisor on National Security, who was in Mexico on a work visit.
The matter came up when Nancy Flores asked the president whether he had spoken to Biden about the US Department of Defense spying on the Mexican armed forces, the Secretariat of the Navy, and the Secretariat of National Defense. The spying was revealed by AMLO himself last month, when he stated in a morning press conference that the Pentagon was spying on Mexico and that “many media in Mexico are publishing information provided by the DEA [US Drug Enforcement Agency] and the Pentagon,” information that had been obtained illegally.
When asked by Flores how the country will be shielded from this interventionism, AMLO responded, “If we inform the people, there is no problem because we have nothing to hide. We have no complicity with anyone; we are not corrupt; we have moral authority. We are doing this, because, although it [this type of interventionist acts] does not harm us, politically speaking, by revealing all this, the people become aware—they understand better what we have been saying all this time, that these conservatives are traitors to the nation.”
Orinoco Tribune Special by Saheli Chowdhury
OT/SC
Saheli Chowdhury
Saheli Chowdhury is from West Bengal, India, studying physics for a profession, but with a passion for writing. She is interested in history and popular movements around the world, especially in the Global South. She is a co-editor and contributor for Orinoco Tribune.
