MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s president on Wednesday slammed U.S. funding for a Mexican anti-corruption nonprofit and said he would send in a new organization. a diplomatic note to the US government in protest.
President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador claimed that the group is part of the conservative opposition and should not receive foreign funding or tax-deductible contributions. He published detailed financial information about the group and promised to send a bill to Congress to change the rules on tax-deductible contributions.
“I think there is open intervention by the U.S. government in the sovereign affairs of Mexico,” López Obrador said. He sent a similar protest note in 2021, with no clear result. The U.S. State Department generally does not comment on diplomatic correspondence.
According to documents presented at the president’s morning press conference, a small amount of funding for the group — about $685,000 — came from U.S. charities over the past eight years.
A larger share — about $5 million in recent years — would come from the U.S. Agency for International Development, which is administered by the State Department.
López Obrador has complained about the funding for years and said he would also write a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden. “I am sure he has not been informed of this situation,” the Mexican president said. But López Obrador sent a similar letter to Biden in 2023.
López Obrador said he will also ask the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the tax authority to investigate the donations.
The group Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity denies it is affiliated with any political party. The group monitors government spending and programs for abuses. It was founded three years before López Obrador took office and has criticized previous governments and other parties.
The organization has published reports critical of some of López Obrador’s key initiatives, including the cancellation of a partially built airport in Mexico City and the construction of a expensive tourist train around the Yucatan Peninsula.
The group’s founder, Claudio X. González, has in the past openly expressed support for opposition candidates.
USAID often supports civil society organizations, usually related to human rights or democracy promotion, in many countries. In some countries, such groups sometimes come into conflict with local governments.
Although López Obrador said the tax deduction for the group’s contributions was a partisan abuse of public money, he has openly used taxpayer-funded government television stations to support the ruling party.
The President of Mexico has had a long feud with journalistscivil and environmental organizations who have criticized his government and used confidential tax and banking information to criticize their funding and salaries.
López Obrador is the latest leader in Latin America and the rest of the world to speak out strongly against external funding for nongovernmental organizations.
In 2013, then-President of Bolivia Evo Morales declared USAID expelled from his countryand claimed it wanted to undermine his government.
In recent years, the Nicaraguan government has passed a number of laws that make it more difficult for non-governmental organizations to operate, and in some cases their offices seized.