President Claudia Sheinbaum spent part of her morning press conference on Thursday responding to remarks made this week by U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar and Doug Ford, premier of the Canadian province of Ontario.
She also responded to social media chatter that former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador ordered senators to reelect Rosario Piedra Ibarra as head of Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission (CNDH).
Sheinbaum: There are differences in what the US ambassador says from one day to the next
At the very start of her engagement with reporters, Sheinbaum was asked about Ambassador Salazar’s assertion on Wednesday that Mexico’s “hugs, not bullets” security strategy has failed.
“First, it’s worth saying that there are differences between what the ambassador of the United States says one day and what he says another day,” she said.
“That was the case, for example, with the judicial reform. On one occasion he said he thought it was good. A week later he said it was going to be very bad for Mexico,” Sheinbaum said.
“…One cannot say one thing and then another. [That’s the] first issue. Second issue: Mexico is a free, independent, sovereign country,” she said.
Responding to Salazar’s claim that López Obrador was responsible for a breakdown in bilateral security cooperation over the past year, Sheinbaum noted that Mexican and U.S. officials collaborated on a range of security issues during the previous term of government, including the fight against the trafficking of drugs and weapons.
“There is coordination and there will continue to be coordination because it’s very important as we have a shared border,” she said.
“… But not subordination. … Mexico is a free, independent, sovereign country. We coordinate with each other, we work together, but there is no subordination,” Sheinbaum said. “… It’s a relationship of equals.”
Proposal to terminate USMCA ‘has no future’
Later in the press conference, a reporter noted that Ontario Premier Doug Ford proposed the termination of the USMCA, the free trade pact between the United States, Mexico and Canada.
“It’s a proposal that has no future,” Sheinbaum said.
“Remember that when the USMCA was signed, Mexico advocated for Canada because there was, at times during the negotiation, the intention of the United States to only sign with Mexico, and at that time, Mexico said: ‘No, we’re three countries,’ and it was signed by the three countries,” she said.
“So, that proposal has no future,” Sheinbaum reiterated. “There is no need to worry.”
Sheinbaum once again stressed that Mexico, the United States and Canada all benefit from the USMCA, which is up for review in 2026.
“… We complement each other, we don’t compete with each other,” she said.
Do you really think AMLO is interested in who the president of the CNDH will be?
Toward the end of her Thursday mañanera, Sheinbaum told reporters that she had read comments on social media that claimed that former president López Obrador had instructed senators to vote in favor of Piedra Barra serving another five-year term at the helm of the CNDH.
“He already retired from public life, he’s writing his book, he’s [working] on other tasks of the transformation,” she said after noting that the former president now lives on his ranch in Palenque, Chiapas.
“Do you really think that – from Palenque – he’s interested in and thinking about who’s going to be president of the CNDH?” Sheinbaum asked rhetorically.
Some observers of Mexican politics have opined that AMLO would, from behind the scenes, indeed continue to influence the ruling Morena party, which he founded – and even Sheinbaum herself – although López Obrador said before he left office that that wouldn’t be the case.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
