In a press conference at his official residence, Ken Salazar expressed his respect for Mexico’s sovereignty and supported changes to the Supreme Court, but not with regard to the way members of the Judicial Branch are elected.
“Judicial reform is a decision of the Mexican government, we respect Mexico’s sovereignty, that is point number one, point number two is that I agree that reforms must be made to strengthen the Court,” he said.
The initiative to reform the judiciary has caused a disagreement between Ambassador Ken Salazar and the President of Mexico.
A few days ago, Joe Biden’s representative warned that the reform would put the relationship at risk, so the head of the federal Executive considered those statements to be interference and sent a diplomatic note to the United States government to express his surprise.
Days later, he announced a pause in relations with the US ambassador.
Regarding the pause, Ken Salazar said that Mexico and the United States continue to work together and clarified that despite the complexity of the relationship, they are moving forward as a family.
“The work between Mexico and the United States continues because work on economic and security issues is important for the people. So the work continues,” he said.
An example of this joint work, he said, is that in 2024 there will be more extraditions than there were in the previous year.
Salazar said he was in favor of legislators and authorities being aware of the concerns that exist in the United States regarding a reform such as the judicial reform.
“It is important that those who are going to make these decisions are aware of these concerns,” he said.
During a brief visit to media representatives to see the library at his residence, the ambassador showed a photograph with López Obrador, who welcomed him to Mexico almost four years ago.
“We’ve had a good run, I have a lot of respect for him,” he said.
The US does not choose all its judges, responds to Sheinbaum
The representative of Joe Biden’s government assured that the United States does not elect all its judges through citizen vote, as commented in a tweet by the president-elect of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum.
“There is no elected judge at the national level, none, in the United States,” he said.
He explained that in some states there is a process to elect them by vote, but there are few. The major cases, he added, are in the hands of federal judges.
