Mexico slams GOP Senator for ‘ignorant’ claims Mexicans would be ‘eating cat food’ if not for U.S.
The backlash from Senator John Kennedy about Mexicans eating “cat food” continues after Mexico’s ambassador to the US called the language “vulgar and racist” and demanded an apology from the Louisiana Republican.
The top diplomat also tried to turn the tables by pointing out how much Louisiana gains from trading with its southern neighbor, in a trade relationship in which the great US economy has been a driving force.
Kennedy’s remark had already sparked an angry diplomatic spat when Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador reversed the remark just days after his phone call with President Biden, amid sensitive discussions about migration and fentanyl.
The diplomatic backlash followed Kennedy’s comment at a Senate hearing that “Without the people of America, Mexico would, figuratively speaking, eat cat food out of a can and live in a tent,” Kennedy said.
“As I listened, my first reaction was to reply to you in the same low, uninformed, and arrogant tone that you used,” Mexican Ambassador Esteban Moctezuma wrote to Kennedy.
Senator John Kennedy (R-La.) sparked outrage in Mexico when he said people in Mexico without the US would “eat cat food from a can and live in a tent”
He said the Republican of Louisiana was “obliged to apologize to your citizens because what you claimed is not worthy of the state of Louisiana known as a cultural melting pot.”
He called Kennedy’s language “vulgar and racist” in a May 11 letter provided by the embassy.
He also countered Kennedy’s inference about life behind an Outback Steakhouse.
“But when we talk about those who actually ‘live under a tent behind an outback’ in Louisiana, you do owe them an apology, since they don’t live that way because they want to, but because of social, economic and health issues that deserve to be considered. Those are things a senator should focus on.”
He then called the comment “racist and xenophobic insults” — and said it led many in Mexico to wonder, “How could a Kennedy say that?”
Lopez Obrador had praised President John F. Kennedy’s “New Frontier” during Biden’s trip earlier this year.
“But it wasn’t long before I learned that John Neely Kennedy is not from the Kennedy family of Massachusetts,” the ambassador wrote in his letter, using language intended as a blow.
Mexican Ambassador to the United States Esteban Moctezuma denounced Kennedy’s comments in an angry letter calling the senator’s tone “uninformed and arrogant”
The comment came during testimony from DEA Administrator Anne Milgram before a Senate subpoena
The letter demanded an apology and took issue with the “living under a tent behind an Outback” comments
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrado denounced the comments, even urging Hispanics in the US to vote out Republicans like Kennedy, who he says hold “deeply offensive” views.
He then called for “cooperation” instead of “insults and threats.”
Kennedy had made the remark when discussing the need to deal with the flow of fentanyl across the border, using a famous line from “The Godfather” to suggest the US demand to send US military resources to deal with drug cartels. offer.
“So why don’t you and the president get on the phone and call President López Obrador and make him a deal he can’t refuse to allow our military and law enforcement to enter Mexico and work with him to stop the cartels,” he asked Anne Milgram, Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency.
“Make him a deal he can’t refuse,” Kennedy said. “Without the people of America, Mexico would, figuratively speaking, eat cat food from a can and live in a tent behind an Outback.”
Our economy is $23 trillion. Mexico’s economy is 1.3 trillion. Ours is 18 times bigger. We buy $400 billion from Mexico every year,” Kennedy said, brandishing economic power in the trade relationship. Mexico’s economy is in the top 15 in the world amid an effort to localize production to nearby or allied countries.
Kennedy’s office did not respond to a request for comment Monday morning.
The ambassador said Kennedy’s home state benefits “much” from its trade relationship, saying Louisiana had a $25 billion trade surplus with the country.
Lopez Obrador blasted Kennedy’s remarks in remarks last week.
“Tell our compatriots, Hispanics, our American friends not to vote for people with this very arrogant, very offensive and very foolish mentality,” he said.
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard also responded to the comments.
“It is a misconception to advocate sending an armed force to Mexico when fentanyl is circulating everywhere in the United States,” Ebrard said.
“What’s behind these ideas and those who promote them,” Ebrard said. “Racism against Mexicans, and against all Spanish speakers in general.”
Kennedy made his remarks after being outraged by the thousands of overdose deaths in the US attributed to fentanyl and counterfeit versions of the drug that often make their way from China and across the border to the US via Mexico.