Mexico suspends embassy ties over US ‘recklessness’ meddling in judicial reforms

Outgoing Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Tuesday suspended the embassies of the United States and Canada after their top diplomats and other influential figures spoke out against controversial proposed reforms to Mexico’s justice system.

“The relationship with Ken Salazar is good, but it is on pause. We are going to give ourselves time,” López Obrador, who is widely known as AMLO, said during his morning press conference, referring to the U.S. ambassador. The president said the “pause” also applies to Canada, whose ambassador, Graeme Clark, has expressed displeasure with the proposed reforms.

“They have to learn to respect the sovereignty of Mexico, because we are not going to give them advice there, nor tell them that it is okay and what is wrong,” he added. “We want them to be respectful, there is a reciprocal relationship in terms of sovereignty.”

— (@)

López Obrador’s decision comes after Salazar said last week that “the direct election of judges by the people poses a great risk to the functioning of Mexican democracy.”

“We understand the importance of Mexico’s fight against judicial corruption. But direct political election of judges, in my opinion, would neither address judicial corruption nor strengthen the judiciary,” the ambassador continued. “It would also weaken efforts to make North American economic integration a reality and would create unrest as the debate over direct election continues for years to come.”

“I believe that faith and trust in the rule of law are among the many shared values ​​that unite our countries. For the private sector, they are the basis for building trust and encouraging investment in a stable and predictable environment,” Salazar added.

Clark later said that Canadian “investors are concerned; they want stability, they want a legal system that works when there are problems.”

López Obrador accused the ambassadors of “recklessness” during his press conference on Tuesday, adding that “there are things that only concern our country.”

It’s not just the ambassadors. On Tuesday, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member James Risch (R-Idaho), and Senators Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said in a joint statement that they are “deeply concerned that the proposed judicial reforms in Mexico would undermine the independence and transparency of the country’s judiciary, putting at risk critical economic and security interests that our two countries share.”

“We are also concerned that several other constitutional reforms currently under discussion could conflict with the commitments made in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, which is up for review in 2026,” the senators added.

The Global Enterprise Council, the Mexico City-based lobbyist for 63 multinational corporations operating in Mexico, including Walmart, American Express, AT&T, General Motors, Microsoft and ExxonMobil, also opposes the proposed judicial reforms, as do other organizations, including the New York City Bar Association and the Washington Post editorial board.

— (@)

López Obrador’s “Plan C” proposes a sweeping overhaul of Mexico’s corruption-plagued judiciary. The plan’s most controversial reform would make judges at all levels of the judiciary, who are currently appointed, elected officials. All current justices would be eligible for election in 2025 and 2027.

The president claims that these reforms are needed to combat corruption and impunity in Mexico’s judicial system. He has accused the Mexican Supreme Court justices of “supporting the oligarchy, not democracy” and says they reject Plan C because “they don’t want a government of the people.”

Plan C, which came after an earlier proposal was blocked by the Supreme Court, has sparked nationwide protests from opponents who say López Obrador is trying to weaken the judiciary and the National Electoral Institute and strengthen his ruling Morena party, while former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, a close ally of the president, is preparing to replace him on Oct. 1 after winning a landslide in June.

Tensions between Mexico and the United States have been rising for months over Mexican perceptions of American interference, including questionably timed media reports alleging ties between López Obrador and drug cartels.

Last week, López Obrador said Salazar’s statement “takes a position on this strictly internal matter of the Mexican state that represents an unacceptable interference, goes against the sovereignty of the United Mexican States and does not reflect the degree of mutual respect that characterizes the relations between our governments.”

“This is an openly interventionist attitude; I hope it doesn’t happen again,” he added.

In separate remarks last week, López Obrador also accused the U.S. of funding organizations that undermine the Mexican government under the guise of human rights.

For example, the U.S. Agency for International Development, which has meddled in Latin America for decades, from kidnapping and torturing homeless Uruguayans to attempting to overthrow Cuba’s revolutionary government by infiltrating the island’s hip-hop scene, has provided financial support to Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity, a frequent critic of López Obrador’s government.

During his press conference on Tuesday, López Obrador reminded Mexicans of centuries of US aggression and interference in Mexico’s internal affairs.

“For years, the United States has pursued an interventionist policy across America, ever since they introduced the Monroe Doctrine,” he said.

López Obrador recounted how Mexico lost half of its territory as a result of the 1846-1848 U.S. invasion, which was carried out under false pretenses and criticized by a young Illinois congressman named Abraham Lincoln. Mexico also endured a seven-month U.S. occupation of Veracruz in 1914.

The president stressed that the fact that there are trade deals with the US does not mean that Washington has the right to interfere in Mexican affairs.

“The treaty is not about giving up our sovereignty, the treaty is about trade, about forging good economic and commercial ties that benefit both countries,” he said Tuesday. “But that does not mean that Mexico should become an appendix, a colony or a protectorate.”