AMLO sent a letter to Biden with proposals to be discussed at the summit

Emir Olivares and Angelica Enciso

Newspaper La Jornada
Wednesday, January 4, 2023, p. 8

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador sent a letter to his US counterpart Joe Biden on Monday proposing some of the issues to be discussed during the North American Leaders Summit (CLAN), to be held from January 9 to 11. in Mexico City.

During the morning of yesterday, the federal president announced that he sent the letter –as he had announced last week–, although he avoided going into details about the content.

Hours later, he received the United States ambassador to our country, Ken Salazar, at the National Palace, who was at the venue for an hour and a half and left without making a statement.

Likewise, López Obrador once again expressed his satisfaction with the arrival of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to the presidency of Brazil and stressed that from the beginning It is doing very important things, it is reversing the privatizations that had been carried out, including Brazil’s oil, and it is making important decisions. And he is a good ruler, he has a lot of experience, he is recognized worldwide..

When the US president was insisted on the letter, he noted: “I already sent it yesterday (Monday). It is to comment in a very respectful manner what we suggest should be the topics that we could discuss, of course respecting that he also brings his agenda. Our purpose is to say: ‘We would like, if you don’t mind, to treat these issues respectfully.’ Making the clarification that we are open to address any issue raised by President Biden.

Last week, the head of the Mexican Executive spoke of his intention to send a letter to the head of the White House in which, he said a few days ago, he would propose three axes in particular: specify greater integration for the entire continent, not only economic; a development plan for Latin America and the Caribbean; and that the Monroe Doctrine be changed so that there is no interventionism in the region.

A week after the trilateral meeting in the National Palace between López Obrador, Biden and the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, the Mexican said he was sure that there are going to be very good results from the match, I would say transcendent, but so far nothing morehe pointed out so as not to delve into the content of the letter.

Later, when answering a question about the proposal that Lula da Silva launched as a candidate to create a single digital currency in the region called SouthLópez Obrador explained that he was not aware of the project, but that his integration approach is not to replace the dollar, but rather that there be an integration of all the nations of the continent, including the economy.

What we are proposing is the union of all the countries of America, Bolívar’s dream, but considering the United States and Canada, all of America together, the entire American continent, that is what we are proposing, because we consider that it is already and it would be the most important region in the world, we have great potential.

He indicated that work is being done on the agenda for the activities of the summit and that everything indicates that at least on Monday, January 9 – the day that the bilateral meeting with the US president will be held – the usual morning conference will not be held, because of the importance of these meetings.