“Unfortunate” and “imprudent.” This is how Andrés Manuel López Obrador described the statements made by Ambassador Ken Salazar against his proposal for reform of the Judicial Branch. The Secretary of Foreign Affairs expressed in a protest note her “deep surprise” at the comments made by the US representative against the election by popular vote of judges, magistrates and ministers of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, stating that “it is a risk for democracy in Mexico.” “We are not going to submit to any country or any foreign power,” said the president in La Mañanera this Friday. The president reproached Washington’s “arrogant policy” towards the entire continent and its “crude interventionist attitude,” and demanded that there be no interference in the country’s internal affairs.
Salazar said that the direct election of members of the judiciary, proposed by López Obrador and Morena, his party, opens the door to an increase in the influence of organized crime in the justice system and threatens the commercial relationship between both countries. “Direct elections could also make it easier for cartels and other malicious actors to take advantage of inexperienced judges with political motivations,” said the U.S. ambassador, in an unusual press conference on Thursday, in which he abandoned his usual conciliatory tone with the Mexican government and put the concerns of his country’s investors on the table. It was the strongest position from the United States against the bill, after months of nervousness in the private sector and the markets.
“[La declaración] “It represents an unacceptable act of interference, it contravenes the sovereignty of the United Mexican States and does not reflect the degree of mutual respect that characterizes the relations between both countries,” reads the protest note from the Mexican Foreign Ministry. The diplomatic response emphasizes that the issue “is of a strictly internal nature,” although it does not go beyond estrangement and does not contemplate other actions that raise tensions between both countries. “We are independent, we are sovereign and we must be good neighbors,” López Obrador stressed. “No foreign country can impose on us the policies that correspond to Mexicans to decide,” he concluded.
López Obrador highlighted the deterioration of bilateral relations in recent weeks, marked by the controversy following the arrest of Ismael El Mayo Zambada and clashes between several US agencies, such as the DEA and the State Department, and the Mexican president. “Recently, there have been acts of disrespect for our sovereignty, such as this statement,” the president accused. “I hope it will not be repeated,” he added.
The president also referred to the letter he sent last Friday to Joe Biden, his American counterpart, regarding the State Department’s funding of organizations critical of his government, such as Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity, which he also described as an act of “interference.” “This is not Ken, Ken is the spokesperson, this is the United States Department of State,” he said. The head of the Executive also sent a veiled message to the Democratic Administration, in the midst of the United States presidential campaign. “We came to an understanding with Trump,” he said in an intervention that lasted about an hour at his morning conference.
The exchange of statements between the president and the ambassador also marked a sudden change of tone in the bilateral relationship and suggests that trade tensions over judicial reform can be resolved in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). The Canadian ambassador, Graeme C. Clark, also acknowledged on Thursday that there are “concerns” among investors in his country, although he was much more cautious in his comments. “The way the United States and Canada are harmonizing is regrettable,” López Obrador criticized. “Who are they to give an opinion?” he questioned. “What is the affront that is being committed? That we Mexicans do not live in a democracy, that democracy is not the government of the people and for the people?”
Canadian Ambassador to Mexico Graeme C. Clark during a conference in Mexico City on August 22. José Méndez (EFE)
López Obrador took the opportunity to attack the media that echoed the ambassador’s comments and his political opponents, whom he called “corrupt,” “hypocritical” and “fascist.” “Why don’t they want the people to choose? Because currently the majority of the members of the Judiciary are employees of the powerful,” he said, in a jab at the opposition and at Salazar himself, who has favored a conciliatory tone in the three years he has been in the country to keep the channels of both countries open and had avoided airing the disagreements until this week.
President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum has joined in the criticism of Salazar’s comments. “Very relevant information: in 43 of the 50 states of the United States of America, judges are elected by popular vote,” she said on her social media. The Mexican opposition, on the other hand, echoed the concerns of foreign investors. “In the United States, they also see this government’s judicial reform and the popular election of judges, magistrates and ministers as dangerous and worrying,” commented Marko Cortés, leader of the National Action Party. “It is clear that everyone sees it, except the president and company,” he added. The initiative has also sparked internal resistance, with a work stoppage that has spread to around twenty states in the country and that the government has described as “illegal.”
Ricardo Monreal, López Obrador’s pawn in the Legislative Branch, where Morena and its allies have the majority, assured Salazar that “what is his concern will not happen” and announced that he will send her the proposed changes to clarify the motivations of the reform, criticized by the opposition as an attempt by the ruling bloc to subordinate the Judicial Branch. Congress will prioritize the approval of the initiative, as well as a battery of proposals promoted by López Obrador, in the legislature that starts on September 1, a month before Sheinbaum assumes as president. The controversy, however, goes beyond the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, and threatens to become a major problem in the relationship with the United States, Mexico’s main trading partner.
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