A few days ago, former Mexican President Lopez-Obrador wrote a letter in total support of incumbent President Sheinbaum. I asked a few Mexican friends if they had ever seen anything like that before, and they said no. I’m not saying that I conducted a scientific poll, but they all said no. One of them even said something like, former Mexican presidents usually disappear, and you don’t hear a word from them again.
Read more Believe all women? Only when it doesn’t harm Democrats
The letter came the same week that President Sheinbaum warned of foreign interference in their elections. This is what she said:
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum warned that Mexico faces a “real risk” of foreign intervention in its elections, escalating a political fight over a newly approved constitutional reform that would allow authorities to annul an election if outside interference is proven.
The warning came as Mexico’s Congress advanced one of the most consequential changes to the country’s electoral rules in years. The reform adds foreign intervention or interference as grounds for nullifying an election, a measure backed by Sheinbaum and Morena as a shield for national sovereignty, but criticized by opponents who say it could open the door to politically motivated challenges to valid results.
“Yes, there can be a risk of foreign intervention in Mexico’s elections, yes,” Sheinbaum said during her morning press conference from the National Palace.
The president linked the measure to what she described as past examples of foreign money reaching Mexican organizations involved, directly or indirectly, in the country’s political arena. Without naming USAID explicitly, Sheinbaum referred to Mexicanos Contra la Corrupción y la Impunidad, known as MCCI, and said the organization had received money from U.S. institutions through the American embassy.
Read more Like Father Like Son? Iranians are Rejecting Both
“It was demonstrated in the case of Mexicanos Contra la Corrupción, or for corruption, that they were financed by institutions of the United States through the embassy, and that in one way or another they supported a candidate,” Sheinbaum said.
Through the US Embassy? That’s a new one for me. The article does say that the anti-corruption group did receive money from the U.S. Agency for International Development between 2018 and early 2024. They deny partisanship and insist that it’s all about promoting democracy, whatever that means.
Graphic: Cartel drug boat obliterated. US Government. Public Domain.
The driving force here is not foreign interference. The real factor is that the Trump administration is putting a lot of pressure on the majority party to turn over politicians connected to the narcos.
Of course, the Mexican Government is playing the sovereignty card to distract the locals.