US anti-narco plane withdrawn from Mexico after parking slot withdrawn

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May 12, 2022

The DEA aircraft, a Beechcraft King Air like this one, has been moved from Toluca to Texas. — The plane (Twitter)

In another blow to the United States’ anti-narcotics efforts in Mexico, federal authorities have effectively forced the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to withdraw its Mexico-based aircraft.

Citing three unnamed sources, the news agency Reuters reported that the DEA has stopped stationing its anti-narcotics plane at the airport in Toluca, México state, because its parking spot was rescinded.

A United States government official and two security officials with knowledge of the issue told Reuters that the DEA’s twin-turboprop King Air plane has been moved to Texas. They requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the issue.

The withdrawal of the parking slot comes after Reuters revealed in April that the Mexican government last year disbanded a United States-trained elite anti-narcotics unit that collaborated with the DEA for almost 25 years. President López Obrador said the unit was infiltrated by organized crime.

The DEA had stationed its own aircraft in Toluca since at least the early 1990s, using the planes in operations against Mexico’s notorious drug cartels. Reuters reported that the planes were used to transport both U.S. agents and elite Mexican units to time-sensitive raids.

The Beechcraft plane has the capacity to carry about 10 people and was used in operations in Mexico and Central America. Reuters said it played a key role in capturing powerful cartel capos and was used in raids against Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the former Sinaloa Cartel honcho who is now in prison in the United States.

Two DEA pilots were on standby at all times, the news agency said, adding that the agency’s aircraft were used to rescue agents facing death threats in Mexico.

A security source told the news agency that problems with the King Air plane began shortly after López Obrador took office in late 2018.

The National Defense Ministry, which controls Mexican airspace, began demanding in 2019 that the U.S. government submit a written request two weeks before any flight. The Reuters source said that the requirement made missions unworkable because anti-narcotics operations demand flexibility and speed.

The DEA lobbied the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the requirement to be dropped but was unsuccessful and the use of its plane consequently stagnated.

The U.S. government official told Reuters that the anti-drugs agency moved the aircraft about a month ago after the federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) asked it to relinquish its space in the FGR hangar at the Toluca airport.

The U.S. government plane was parked at Toluca International Airport prior to the withdrawal of its parking space.

The absence of a DEA plane in Mexico “will bring things to a halt,” one of the security sources said. “We can’t drive through parts of Mexico, it’s too dangerous.”

Leonardo Silva, a former DEA agent who worked in Mexico, told Reuters that the plane was “invaluable to our missions.”

“It’s very important to the DEA’s ability to function and be effective in Mexico,” he added.

Another unnamed former DEA agent who worked in Mexico told Reuters that the absence of a DEA plane in Mexico would likely place extraditions of traffickers at risk because the agency often only has hours to take drug lords to the U.S. before their lawyers initiate proceedings that complicate the process.

López Obrador has accused the DEA and other U.S. authorities of failing to respect Mexico’s sovereignty while operating in the country.

“We maintain cooperation with international security organizations but we make sure our sovereignty is respected. Before they entered and left the country and did … what they wanted, they even fabricated crimes,” he said in late April.

“… It’s no longer the time of those operations, like ‘Fast and Furious,’” López Obrador said, referring to the 2009-2011 scheme under which the United States government allowed people to buy guns illegally in the U.S. and smuggle them into Mexico so that the weapons could be tracked and law enforcement officials could locate and arrest crime bosses.

The federal government’s security relationship with the United States soured in late 2020 when the U.S. arrested former defense minister Salvador Cienfuegos on drug-related charges. The charges were dropped and Cienfuegos was returned to Mexico, where he was cleared of wrongdoing, but the federal government nevertheless enacted a law that restricts and regulates the activities of foreign agents in Mexico. Some observers said the law was retaliation for the arrest of Cienfuegos.

Notwithstanding Mexico’s limitations on and reduced cooperation with the DEA, bilateral security relations have improved since the low point precipitated by the former defense minister’s arrest, with the two countries entering into a new security agreement last December.

With reports from Reuters

Man wakes up to find himself in narco-tunnel sinkhole

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MND Staff

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May 12, 2022

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The state public works minister said the government would fill in the tunnel to prevent future accidents. Secretaría de Obras Públicas Sinaloa

An escape tunnel used by organized crime had an unexpected and no doubt startled visitor early Tuesday when a Sinaloa man fell into it while sleeping on a couch in his living room.

A large hole suddenly opened in the floor of the man’s Culiacán home due to the presence of the subterranean passageway below, causing him to drop into the tunnel in an event that must have seemed like a bad dream.

The Sinaloa government said in a statement that an approximately 25-year-old man suffered minor injuries after falling about 2 1/2 meters.

The tunnel, which the government said had been used as an escape route by members of organized crime, leads to a nearby house that was seized by the army 11 years ago.

Citing neighbors, an Imagen Televisión report said that the house is now used as a garbage dump.

The young man fell more than two meters and sustained minor injuries.

The Sinaloa government said that the tunnel is presumed to run beneath at least eight homes in the Juntas de Humaya neighborhood before opening at a canal.

Imagen Televisión said that several houses have sunk due to the presence of the tunnel and have structural problems.

Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya dispatched his public works minister to the home where part of the living room floor collapsed to inspect the damage. José Luis Zavala Cabanillas said that workers from his ministry would fill in the tunnel to avoid additional collapses in that home and those around it.

Numerous narco-tunnels used by cartels to smuggle drugs into the United States have been found on Mexico’s northern border.

A 1.3-kilometer subterranean passageway between Tijuana, Baja California, and San Diego, California, that was discovered by U.S. authorities in 2020 is the longest cross-border drug tunnel ever found.

Convicted drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán – who has been described as a tunnels mastermind – famously used a tunnel to escape from a México state maximum security prison in 2015.

With reports from Animal Político

Mexico City Metro crash report cites faults by presidential hopefuls’ administrations

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Christine Murray

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May 12, 2022

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The final report found that both initial construction problems and lack of routine maintenance contributed to the crash, which killed 26 and injured more than 100. File photo

A report into the causes of the Mexico City Metro collapse that killed 26 people last year pointed to failures across the administrations of two mayors who are now presidential hopefuls.

Initial results from an audit by Norwegian consultancy DNV last year said the crash was caused by a series of faults during construction of Line 12 of the Metro, which was built by billionaire Carlos Slim’s Carso Infrastructure and Construction while Marcelo Ebrard, currently Mexico’s foreign minister, was mayor.

In a final report published on Wednesday by the city government, DNV said there was also no evidence that routine maintenance to find potential problems had been performed after its completion, implicating subsequent administrations including that of current Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum.

Last week, Sheinbaum, who commissioned DNV to run the audit, accused the company of conflicts of interest and said there were inconsistencies between their initial and most recent reports. She said she would rescind the company’s contract and has threatened to file a criminal complaint against its representatives.

“We think there is political bias in the last report,” Sheinbaum said this week.

President López Obrador on Wednesday backed Sheinbaum, saying she was an honest woman who was being put under enormous pressure.

Ebrard last year defended the design and building of the line and said all decisions were “based on efficiency and technical aptitude” by experts and officials.

DNV did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement last week, it said that it stood by its methodology and that no experts involved in the report had conflicts of interest.

Ebrard and Sheinbaum are tied in voter preferences among presidential candidates to succeed López Obrador, according to a poll by Reforma newspaper published on Monday.

The rejection of the report and threats of criminal action against the consultants caused alarm in the country’s private sector. They also fueled fears that the technical and criminal investigations will not hold those responsible accountable.

“The Mexico City authorities look more interested in stopping justice being done,” said Marco Fernández, a researcher at think tank México Evalúa and professor at the Tec de Monterrey’s School of Governance.

“Everything points to serious problems of negligence in the construction and the supervision . . . and obviously the negligence that’s very uncomfortable for the current government on the lack of inspections.”

No one has been charged in connection with the collapse more than a year since it happened. Prosecutors have said they may soon bring charges.

Slim’s company Grupo Carso last year reached a deal with the city government to pay to repair the line and fund compensation for victims, although it said at the time that it did not accept responsibility for the crash. A spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Once again, pilots forced to abort landing to avoid collision at Mexico City airport

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MND Staff

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May 12, 2022

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The incident was the second last-minute aborted landing at the airport in less than a week. File photo

Just days after a similar incident, pilots of a plane that was about to touch down at the Mexico City International Airport (AICM) were forced to abort their landing because the runway was already occupied.

The landing of an Aeroméxico flight from Bogotá, Colombia, was aborted at the last minute Wednesday night because a United Airlines plane that flew into the Mexican capital from Los Angeles was still on the runway.

The Aeroméxico pilots landed the plane some 20 minutes later, El País reported. The newspaper said that two of its journalists were on the flight and they could see airport hangars and passenger boarding bridges when the plane suddenly began to regain altitude.

It described the abrupt ascent as like riding on an upward section of a roller coaster at full speed.

The last-minute aborted landing came after pilots of a Volaris plane narrowly averted a disaster at the AICM Saturday after they were cleared to land on a runway where another aircraft of the same airline was waiting to take off. It appears air traffic controllers made a similar blunder on Wednesday.

According to air traffic controllers and aviation experts cited by the newspaper Reforma, the number of aborted landings, or go-arounds, has doubled at the AICM this year to six per 1,000 operations due to the redesign of air space to allow that airport and the new Felipe Ángeles International Airport to operate simultaneously.

Most are not executed just before a plane is about to touch down, as occurred in the two recent incidents.

The close calls came after the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations said it appeared that air traffic controllers at the AICM have received little training and support as to how to direct flights operating in the new airspace configuration.

Deputy Transport Minister Rogelio Jiménez Pons said Sunday that last Saturday’s incident was not related to the redesign of airspace in the greater Mexico City area. However, the director of Navigation Services for Mexican Airspace, a government agency, was dismissed in the wake of the anxiety-inducing aborted landing.

Jiménez announced Monday that operations at the overburdened AICM would be reduced over the next 12 months to avoid more dangerous incidents. He said that 25% of flights will be transferred to the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA), which opened in late March, and the Toluca International Airport.

The government said Tuesday that the number of commercial flights at the AIFA will increase to over 100 from a current level of about 12. Cargo and charter aircraft will also be shifted to the army-built new airport, located about 50 kilometers north of downtown Mexico City in México state.

With reports from Milenio and El País

Court ruling invalidates 5-gram limit on marijuana possession

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MND Staff

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May 11, 2022

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Victory sign — Before Tuesday's ruling, possession of more than five grams of marijuana, even for personal use, could result in a jail term of up to three years.

The Supreme Court (SCJN) ruled Wednesday that penalizing the possession of any amount of marijuana is unconstitutional unless it can be proven that the drug is not for personal use.

Decriminalization of the possession of marijuana had only applied to quantities of five grams or less.

Three of five justices voted in favor of revoking part of an article of the General Health Law, which stipulated that possession of marijuana for personal use is limited to no more than five grams. Possession of larger quantities, even if they were for personal use, was punishable by imprisonment of up to three years.

The SCJN established that prosecutors and/or judges must determine whether people caught with marijuana intended to use it themselves or sell or distribute it.

Most minor possession charges shouldn’t reach court as a result of the court’s ruling. Lower court judges are not obliged to follow the SCJN’s guidance given that only three of five judges voted in favor of the law change but most are expected to do so to avoid having to hear minor marijuana possession cases, the newspaper Reforma reported.

The court’s ruling says that criminal intervention by the state when marijuana carried by a person is for personal use is not justified or reasonable. Instead, it’s an “arbitrary interference” that affects a person’s dignity, private life and autonomy, the SCJN ruled.

“Criminal prosecution of a person who possesses cannabis within their sphere of privacy without affecting third parties is not justified,” the ruling added.

Allowing authorities to prosecute possession of more than five grams of marijuana for personal use is to allow the punishment of “moral qualities, personality or personal conduct, which doesn’t have constitutional support,” the court said.

Its ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by Edgar Díaz Sánchez, who was arrested in possession of just over 30 grams of marijuana in 2018.

The SCJN ruled in 2019 that prohibition of marijuana is unconstitutional because criminalization violates the right to free development of personality. It has directed Congress to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes, but lawmakers have repeatedly missed deadlines to do so.

With reports from Reforma

Coronavirus: The masks come off in Quintana Roo

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MND Staff

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May 11, 2022

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Governor of Quintana Roo Carlos Joaquin — Quintana Roo Governor Carlos Joaquín informed his constituents via video on Tuesday that the use of face masks is now optional.

Quintana Roo is the latest state to drop its face mask mandate due to a much-improved coronavirus situation.

Governor Carlos Joaquín announced Tuesday that the use of masks is now optional in the Caribbean coast state, home to popular tourist destinations such as Cancún, Playa del Carmen, Tulum and Cozumel.

He said in a video message that there hadn’t been a COVID-19 death in the state for more than five weeks and that average new case numbers were below 20 per day.

Joaquín recommended that people with medical conditions such as diabetes or high blood pressure continue using masks when they are unable to keep a safe distance from others. He also advocated the continued use of masks on public transit, in enclosed spaces that are not well ventilated and in crowded areas.

In addition, it’s preferable that workers such as waitstaff, cashiers and medical personnel continue using masks, the governor said, adding that a mask mandate could be reintroduced if the coronavirus situation demands one.

Governor Joaquin’s rescinding obligatory face mask use statewide affects visitors to many of Mexico’s most popular beach destinations.

“Remember, [the use of] face masks is a personal responsibility. Use one if you believe you could be exposed … to COVID,” he concluded.

The end of Quintana Roo’s mandatory face mask rule came the same day that Jalisco’s mask mandate officially concluded.

Several other states have dropped mask mandates – at least for open-air spaces – including Baja California Sur, Baja California, Mexico City, Tamaulipas and Nuevo León.

Mexico went through a large omicron-fueled fourth wave of infections that peaked in January with almost 1 million new cases recorded.

The Health Ministry said Tuesday that the pandemic was continuing with “minimal activity,” noting that there was an average of 370 cases per day over the past week.

With reports from El Universal

Avocados, limes and peaches: cartel violence kills harvests

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Henry Shuldiner

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May 11, 2022

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Mexico’s produce industry has taken another hit from cartel violence, as tens of millions of dollars worth of peaches are set to be lost after farmers abandoned their fields.

An estimated 3 million trees across 6,000 hectares have been abandoned by farmers in the municipality of Jerez, in the central state of Zacatecas, one of the top peach-producing regions of Mexico, where up to 8,000 tonnes are harvested annually. Losses could reach some US $45 million, reported El Sol de Zacatecas.

Cartel violence in Zacatecas has surged in recent years. In March, a group of displaced Jerez residents traveled to Mexico City to protest a lack of government action to safeguard their communities. Some 2,000 people from 17 communities have fled, Radio Formula reported. Miguel Ángel Torres Rosales, the congressional representative for Zacatecas, said residents who demanded protection had been provided only a National Guard escort to pack their belongings and leave their homes, according to a report by the news magazine Buzon.

Mauro Talamantes, state coordinator for the National Farmer’s Confederation in Zacatecas, claimed that more communities had been displaced than were reported. “Now we are talking about 30 displaced communities and all the productivity that this implies,” he told reporters.

Ranchers and apple growers in the state have also suffered losses after fleeing their farms. NTR Zacatecas reported that data from the Zacatecas Farmer’s Parliament, a collection of civil society organizations, shows that over 10,000 head of cattle have been lost and 2,000 hectares of apples have been left to perish.

As InSight Crime reported in March 2021, Jerez has become a hotbed for synthetic drug production and sits along drug trafficking routes to the United States. A battle for control of Zacatecas is currently being waged between two of Mexico’s most powerful cartels, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).

InSight Crime analysis

Peaches are the latest loss in Mexico’s agricultural heartland, where other valuable crops, such as avocados and limes, have been left to rot in recent years after growers faced violent cartel threats and extortion.

The avocado business – dubbed “green gold” for its profitability – has long been a target of extortion by criminal groups. Cartels charge monthly protection payments from farmers. Gunmen rob trucks transporting the fruit. Fears of violence aimed at U.S. safety inspectors led the U.S. government to temporarily suspend avocado imports earlier this year.

Lime farmers also have been in the crossfire of cartel violence. Plantations of limes were left unharvested in Michoacán in 2021 after farmers and workers fled for their safety. Farmers have reported criminal groups dictating prices to them to squeeze higher fees.

Fruit prices in Mexico have risen drastically, with peaches, apples, papaya and others increasing between 10 and 45% recently. While many factors have contributed to the inflation of fruit prices, supply reductions have been blamed on farmers being forced to flee.

Farmers are also likely to have difficulties resuming cultivation after abandoning crops. Residents have reported that criminal groups have looted houses and stolen tractors in their absence. In February, El Sol de México reported that over 30,000 people living in Zacatecas had left, leaving behind ghost towns of abandoned homes and fields.

Reprinted from InSight Crime. Henry Shuldiner is a writer with InSight Crime, a foundation dedicated to the study of organized crime.

Alebrijes to form exhibition in Chicago park

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MND Staff

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May 11, 2022

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Eighteen giant Mexican folk art sculptures and 30 medium-sized ones will be on display in a Chicago park between June and October.

The Alebrijes: Creatures of a Dream World exhibition will open to the public June 12 at Cantigny Park, located about 50 kilometers west of downtown Chicago in DuPage County.

Six Mexico City artists were recruited by the Mexican Cultural Center DuPage to make the alebrijes, fantastical creatures first made by the artist Pedro Linares in the late 1930s after he had a vivid dream that was apparently triggered by a high fever.

The artists, which belong to a collective based in the southern borough of Xochimilco, began making the colorful sculptures last September.

Alejandro Camacho, a member of the collective, told the newspaper El Heraldo de México that the Cantigny Park exhibition – which will feature 18 four-meter-high alebrijes – has the “great responsibility to show off the culture … of Mexico City in one of the most important cities of the United States.”

The capital is known for papier-mâché alebrijes, while wood carvings known by the same name are primarily made in Oaxaca.

The artists received few instructions from the Mexican Cultural Center DuPage as to what kind of alebrijes to make but were asked to not create overly aggressive-looking creatures, Camacho said.

The sculptures will be exhibited in other United States cities after the five-month-long exhibition in Illinois.

The exhibition, admission to which is included in the US $5-$10 cost of parking at Cantigny Park, comes after two large alebrijes were installed in New York City last year as part of a 12-day celebration of Day of the Dead.

With reports from El Heraldo de México

Funeral held for juice vendor who refused to pay extortion

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MND Staff

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May 11, 2022

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funeral of Genaro Lozano, murdered juice vendor Mexico state — Funeral of Genaro Lozano, who'd sold juices at his stand in México state for 31 years.

A México state fruit and juice vendor was laid to rest Tuesday after he was shot dead Saturday for refusing to make an extortion payment.

Genaro Lozano Morales was one of three people killed after he refused to hand over another payment to a gang of criminals that arrived at his street stand in Tlalnepantla, a municipality that is part of the greater Mexico City metropolitan area.

One of the other victims was Lozano’s niece. His three sons were wounded in the attack and are in serious condition in a Mexico City hospital.

Lozano’s daughter condemned the murder of her 51-year-old father, who had been selling fruit and juice at the same location in the Tlalnepantla town of Ixhuatepec for 31 years.

“It’s not fair. We get up every day at one in the morning to start working, to go to the Central de Abastos [wholesale market] only for the extortioners to take the little we earn,” María Evelin Lozano told the newspaper El Universal before her father was buried in the San Juan Ixhuatepec cemetery.

murder of Mexico state juice vendor — Three of the six people arrested for involvement in the attack that killed México state juice vendor Genaro Lozano and his niece and seriously wounded his three sons.

She also said that the Mexican Social Security Institute hospital where her three brothers are receiving treatment is charging 8,000 pesos (US $395) per day per patient. She has asked state and federal authorities to help cover the costs and to provide protection due to the risk of another attack on her family.

Municipal police arrested six people in connection with the attack on Saturday, during which more than 20 shots were fired. Three of those detained are minors aged 14, 16 and 17. The two younger boys are brothers.

All six suspects, taken into custody Saturday afternoon near the scene of their alleged crime after a police chase, face charges of homicide, battery and extortion.

The presumed leader of the gang is Rosalío N., aka “El Ratón” (The Mouse). After Lozano refused to hand over money to him, he threatened to “bring his people” to force him to pay, according to a report by the news website La Silla Rota.

A short while later, gang members arrived at the juice stand on motorcycles and opened fire at Lozano and his employees.

protest by families of arrested men in Mexico state — Families of the arrested suspects claimed they were innocent and protested their detainment by blocking two major roads on Sunday and Monday, including the Mexico City-Pachuca highway.

Family members of the alleged criminals protested their arrest on Sunday by blocking a major road in Ixhuatepec as well as the Mexico City-Pachuca highway. The National Guard cleared the highway early Monday but another blockade was set up on another Tlalnepantla road later the same day.

The grandmother of the detained brothers called for their release in a video message, claiming they were out shopping for food when they were taken into custody.

México state is one of Mexico’s most violent states, with over 2,600 homicides in 2021.

With reports from El Universal and La Silla Rota

AMLO’s stance on Americas summit doesn’t benefit Mexico: analysts

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MND Staff

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May 11, 2022

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AMLO said Tuesday that he would send the Mexico delegation to the Summit of the Americas but wouldn't attend himself if not every country is invited. Presidencia

President López Obrador has come under fire after declaring that he won’t attend the Summit of the Americas (SOA) in the United States next month unless all countries of the region are invited.

The U.S. government has suggested that the presidents of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua won’t be invited to the regional meeting, which will be held in Los Angeles between June 6 and 10.

López Obrador, who was in Cuba last weekend and has a friendly relationship with the island nation’s president, Miguel Díaz Canel, said Tuesday that he won’t attend if any nation is excluded, declaring that “even with our differences, we have to have dialogue” and that nations must treat each other in a “brotherly” way.

“If all [countries] aren’t invited, a delegation of the Mexican government will go, but I wouldn’t,” he told reporters at his morning news conference.

The president clarified that Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard would represent him at the ninth SOA, whose theme is “Building a Sustainable, Resilient, and Equitable Future.”

Arturo Sarakhan — “At the end of the day, if the president doesn’t attend, it’s Mexico that loses,” former Mexican ambassador to the US Arturo Sarukhán said.

Arturo Sarukhán, Mexico’s ambassador to the United States between 2006 and 2013, was among the critics of López Obrador’s plan to boycott the event if all leaders don’t have a seat at the table. “The president’s decision to condition his participation in the summit on Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua being invited is an own goal and a silly thing to do,” he told the newspaper El Universal.

Sarukhán said López Obrador’s declaration and potential nonattendance would harm Mexico’s relationship with the United States, “which the president himself has acknowledged … is fundamental to the well-being and prosperity of Mexicans,” including the millions who live in the U.S.

“… At the end of the day, if the president doesn’t attend, it’s Mexico that loses,” the former ambassador said.

“It is important to remember that for a country like ours, if you’re not seated at the table, you’re on the menu,” Sarukhán added.

He also criticized López Obrador’s stance on the basis that if he was hosting an international event in Mexico, he wouldn’t allow another leader to tell him who to invite.

“… The fundamental question is, “why is he … [threatening not to go]? There are clearly ideological reasons and an outdated and stale vision of international relations. But could there be additional motives, such as the suspicions of a growing role for Cuba … in Mexican internal intelligence matters?” Sarukhán asked.

Miguel Ruis Cabanas — “The president has now chosen a route that won’t give him results,” Mexico’s former ambassador to Japan and Italy Miguel Ruiz Cabañas told the newspaper *El Universal*. UN

International relations academic Iliana Rodríguez said López Obrador’s threat is contrary to the spirit of international diplomacy and people’s right to self-determination. Every country has the right to decide who it does and doesn’t want to establish relations with, she said.

The Tec de Monterrey professor and researcher said that needless tension in the bilateral relationship with the United States will arise if the president follows through on his threat and doesn’t attend the summit.

Nonattendance would annoy United States President Joe Biden, but he would have to respect López Obrador’s decision “as we respect the United States giving support to the people of Israel against the rights of Palestine,” Rodríguez said.

On Twitter, prominent United States-based Mexican journalist Jorge Ramos said that López Obrador – with whom he went toe to toe at one of the president’s press conferences last July – “has every right not to go to the Summit of the Americas if he doesn’t want to.”

“But what he’s asking,” Ramos added, “is that thugs, torturers, censors and oppressors, as the dictators of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua are, be invited to the party.”

The journalist charged that the Mexican president has already chosen to side with the leaders of those countries.

AMLO receiving Order of Jose Marti in Havana — AMLO was in Cuba on Sunday to receive its highest state–bestowed honor, the Order of José Martí from Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

Miguel Ruíz Cabañas, an academic, former foreign affairs official and ex-ambassador to Japan and Italy, said López Obrador should have communicated his intention not to attend the summit directly to Biden rather than announcing it publicly. “It was an unexpected announcement and a little premature because there’s still a month until the summit starts,” he told El Universal.

Ruíz said López Obrador’s declaration will complicate the relationship with the United States because the U.S. government is unlikely to accept “public pressure” with regard to who it should and shouldn’t invite to the summit.

“The president has now chosen a route that won’t give him results. I would be very surprised if the United States government changes its position,” he said. “… Asking President Biden to invite these three dictatorships is to put him in a very complex situation” given that midterm elections will be held in the United States in November, Ruíz added.

The academic questioned López Obrador’s motives given that Mexico’s relationship with the United States is more important than those it has with Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, and he defended the U.S. government’s right to invite whom it sees fit.

One of the main topics for discussion at the summit is expected to be migration to the United States via Mexico, which has recently increased.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that no invitations by the US have yet been issued. Creative Commons

“Our goal is … to sign a regional declaration on migration and protection in June in Los Angeles when the United States hosts the Summit of the Americas,” Biden said in March during a visit to the White House by Colombian President Iván Duque.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Brian Nichols has said that the Cuban, Venezuelan and Nicaraguan governments have demonstrated that they don’t respect democracy and would be unlikely to be invited to the regional summit, the first since the 2018 event in Lima, Peru.

However, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that a final decision on summit invitations had not been made.

“We haven’t made a decision yet about who will be invited and no invitations have been issued yet,” she told reporters.

Some other countries, including Argentina and Caribbean nations, have also called for all leaders to be invited to the Summit of the Americas, whose purpose is to bring together members of the Organization of American States for discussion and negotiation on issues of regional importance.

With reports from El Universal, El Economista and Associated Press