The president sent a letter to his US counterpart Joe Biden, calling for funds to groups “against” his administration to be cut off.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has sent a letter to Joe Biden’s administration calling on the United States to stop aid to organizations he believes are in conflict with his administration.
The letter specifically identifies funds from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), though it does not name the groups López Obrador objects to.
“The U.S. government, particularly through USAID, has long been openly funding organizations against the legal and legitimate government I represent,” he said in the letter, dated Tuesday and read at the president’s morning press briefing on Wednesday.
“This is clearly an interventionist act, contrary to international law and relations between free and sovereign states.”
Wednesday’s comments echo earlier objections from López Obrador, who sent the US a diplomatic note earlier in 2021 denouncing USAID funds.
At the time, he specifically objected to funding for the nonprofit organization Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity. “A foreign government cannot provide money to political groups,” he said of the funds, adding: “It promotes a form of coup.”
In his latest letter, López Obrador appeals directly to Biden to cut off the funds. On Tuesday, the Mexican president met with White House homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall to discuss border policies leading up to the expiration of Title 42, a policy that U.S. officials used to deport asylum seekers during the COVID-19 pandemic. pandemic.
López Obrador has faced criticism during his tenure for allegedly weakening Mexico’s democratic institutions through attacks on the media and government controls.
Last week, he reiterated calls to shut down Mexico’s Institute for Information Access and Transparency (INAI), an independent government body with the power to compel other official agencies to comply with freedom of information requests. He cited wasteful spending as motivation.
The president has also criticized Mexico’s justice system and supported an effort to cut funding and limit the powers of the National Electoral Institute (INE), which oversees election integrity.
López Obrador has also condemned the work of non-governmental organizations, including the Article 19 freedom of expression group, which receives USAID funds.
Mexico remains one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. In a report released in March, Article 19 recorded 696 attacks against Mexican media workers by 2022, the highest number since the group began tracking records in 2007. It is estimated that there was an attack on a journalist once every 13 hours.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, a US-based non-profit organization, found that 2022 was the deadliest year on record for Mexican journalists, with 13 deaths.
The fiscal year 2024 budget proposed by Biden reserves $63.1 billion for the US State Department and USAID. In a statement on the budget, Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised the agencies’ work to “lead extraordinary global efforts” to advance a vision “of a free, open, safe and prosperous world.”
In an interview with the TV show CNN This Morning on Tuesday, USAID Administrator Samantha Power explained that her agency has provided nearly $160 million to support independent media around the world.
Earlier this year, López Obrador lashed out at implicit criticism of the Biden administration, saying, “There is more democracy in Mexico right now than in the United States.”