Alonso Urrutia and Emir Olivares
The newspaper La Jornada
Wednesday, August 28, 2024, p. 4
Interventionist remarks by the United States ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, questioning the ongoing judicial reform, prompted President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to decide that relations with that diplomatic mission and that of Canada are on hold. How can we allow him to think that what we are doing is wrong! We are not going to tell him to leave the country, no, but we do have to read the Constitution, which is like reading him the riot act.
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Despite the disqualification of Salazar – clarifying that it was not a personal matter – López Obrador identified the State Department as the origin of this attempt to intervene in matters that only concern Mexico. It’s not him either. What a coincidence that at the same time that they are speaking out in Mexico through the embassy, the Canadians are doing it, which is also embarrassing, with all due respect to the Canadian government, it seems to be an associated state.
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At a press conference, López Obrador toughened his stance against the US attempt to get involved in the debate on judicial reform, especially by questioning the viability of the popular election of judges, magistrates and ministers. In this context, he said: As long as I am here, we will not allow any violation of our sovereignty. I am leaving now, there are 30 days left, but as long as I am here as President, I cannot allow our Constitution to be violated.
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–Do you think the future president will maintain this position?
–Yes, any government has to defend the sovereignty of its people. And, besides, these are our things. What’s more, the president-elect already said it, and she said it very well, I think she said, more or less: Dialogue, yes, of course we can dialogue, but there are things that only concern our country.
. I think that’s what he said, right?
López Obrador stressed that Article 89 of the Mexican Constitution obliges the President to conduct foreign policy on the basis of the principles of non-intervention and self-determination of peoples. These are the principles that apply, which is why the US attempt to interfere in internal affairs cannot be accepted.
–Does pause mean that the ambassador will no longer come…
–Pausing means that we are going to take our time, because hopefully… And the State Department, because it is not him either.
–But who is the pause with, the ambassador? Is it a pause in the dialogue with the ambassador or is it a pause in the bilateral relationship between Mexico and the United States?
–No, the relationship continues, the relationship continues, but I hope that there is a ratification on their part that they will be respectful of the independence of Mexico, of the sovereignty of our country.
He ironically pointed out a scenario in which the American ambassador would be involved in the debate on judicial reform because they are in the framework of a commercial relationship. And in that logic, The Canadian embassy will also participate, but also, since we have commercial relations with China, the Chinese and the Russians should be included as well, because they are very important.
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In response to a direct question about whether an apology from the embassy could end the pause, the President said that it would happen if they express that in this matter related to constitutional modifications associated with the Judiciary they will be respectful of national sovereignty and assume that these are determinations of a legally and legitimately constituted government in Mexico.
He insisted that this is not a personal matter with Ambassador Salazar, with whom he has had very good, constructive relations, but if he comes here and is received by the President, “forget about Andrés Manuel, because this is about the presidential investiture, and if he suddenly comes out and says: ‘I came to give you my opinion, that the people of Mexico should not elect the judges, the magistrates, the ministers, because that – as they have come to say – is anti-democratic, it complicates things even more,’ right? They say: ‘How embarrassing.’”
–Will there be a call to President Joe Biden regarding this?
–No, no, no, why, no, no, no. It is just that they understand that it was imprudent to demonstrate as they did.
