Sheinbaum Challenges US Ambassador: Tensions Rise between Mexico and the US

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum delivered a statement emphasizing the significance of collaboration with the country’s northern neighbors, while firmly dismissing any notion of subordination.

“Mexico is a free, independent and sovereign country. There’s coordination with the United States, not subordination; it is a relationship between equals. We share families, culture, economy and trade,” she wrote on her X account along with a more detailed video interview. 

This statement was made as a response to criticism by Ambassador Ken Salazar on the security strategy of the current government and that of Sheinbaum’s antecessor President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Salazar, the US ambassador to Mexico, criticized Obrador’s “Hugs, not bullets” security strategy that wanted to tackle crime at its roots, saying that it had not been effective, yet he praised the prevention part of the strategy, according to a CNN report. 

The "hugs not bullets" policy, launched by Obrador after he became president in 2018, prioritized grants, scholarships and other measures to deter young Mexicans from turning to crime.

“All that prevention stuff. That is very important and I am 100% in agreement with that. The other side is complying with the law. And that is when they just say: 'well, there is no problem', 'we have these figures that say there is no problem', it is not based on reality.”

Sheibaum also pointed out the "disparity" in the ambassador's statements, recalling that the diplomat first gave a positive opinion on the reform of the judiciary and then changed his mind, stating that it would be bad for Mexico.

“So, which statement did we hear? The one from yesterday or the one from a few months ago. That is the first issue. There must be consistency, there must be logic in the statements one makes. One cannot declare one thing first and then another,” Sheibaum said, according to Mexican newspaper  Proceso.

According to Infobae, the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs also sent a diplomatic note to the US embassy after Ken Salazar's statements expressing surprise at the US ambassador's remarks.

Photo: X @SRE_mx

As El País recalls, Ken Salazar is in the final stretch of his administration. In the end, he did not want to stop issuing his criticisms of the violence crisis in Mexico and accused former President AMLO of “closing the door” to cooperation against organized crime.

"The previous president did not want the support of the United States," the ambassador concluded, blaming AMLO's decisions on "ideological problems".

Criminal violence, much of it linked to drug trafficking and gangs that control the majority of the influx of illegal narcotics into the US, has seen more than 450,000 people murdered across Mexico since 2006.

The Mexican president added that she will not communicate directly with the American ambassador because, according to her, the dialogue should take place with Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Juan Ramón de la Fuente.

Never miss a story! Click here to follow The Daily Digest.