Mexico Abruptly Freezes Relations With US, Canada Embassies After They Criticize The President's New "Judicial Reform" .
Mexico's president has put relations with the United States and Canadian embassies "on pause" after they voiced concerns over a proposed judicial overhaul plan.
The Mexican government has paused its engagement with the ambassadors of the United States and Canada, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Tuesday.
The decision comes in the wake of criticism over a sweeping judicial reform proposal in Mexico.
"There is a pause," Lopez Obrador said in a press conference, clarifying that the freeze was with the embassies, from where the criticism came, and not with the countries.
AMLO was quick to point out that the "pause" applied to relations and communications with the American and Canadian embassies, not the countries themselves. But that's almost a distinction without a difference. The Mexican president's major beef is with our Ambassador, Ken Salazar. He immediately raised concerns over the judicial reforms and the corrosive effect they might have on democracy in Mexico. A similar concern was raised by Canada's ambassador. But our ambassadors rarely jump out and do something provocative without first clearing it with the State Department.
The full details of AMLO's "judicial reform" package remain a bit sketchy. They include a proposal to have Mexican judges selected via elections rather than appointments. This idea has alarmed activists both inside and outside of Mexico who fear that such a system would lead to the country's courts being filled by politically biased actors with little judicial experience. That's not an unjustifiable fear, but it's also a bit hypocritical. We have many judges in the lower courts of the United States who are chosen by elections and as we have covered here multiple times, the results are often far from satisfactory. Of course, our appointed judges are also typically identified by the party of the person who nominated them, so perhaps this is a no-win situation.
The Mexican government has paused its engagement with the ambassadors of the United States and Canada, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Tuesday.
The decision comes in the wake of criticism over a sweeping judicial reform proposal in Mexico.
"There is a pause," Lopez Obrador said in a press conference, clarifying that the freeze was with the embassies, from where the criticism came, and not with the countries.
The judicial overhaul plan, suggested by the Mexican president during his final weeks in office, has sparked protests and strikes, and criticism from investors and financial institutions.
What prompted the Mexican 'pause'?
Last week, US Ambassador Ken Salazar called the judicial overhaul proposal a "risk" to democracy that would endanger Mexico's commercial relationship with Washington. Lopez Obrador chided the ambassador, saying he violated Mexican sovereignty.
Salazar has since softened his tone, writing on X that he was open to dialogue. He added on Tuesday that "we always work with the utmost respect for Mexico's sovereignty."
Lopez Obrador pointed the finger at the US State Department, which the Mexican president believed was behind Salazar's criticism.
"We're not going to tell him (Salazar) to leave the country," he said. "I hope that they promise to be respectful of Mexican's independence, of our country's sovereignty. But until that happens, and they continue these policies, it's on pause."
Lopez Obrador also accused Canada's ambassador of interfering in Mexico's internal affairs for expressing apprehension about the judicial proposal.
Mexico, the United States and Canada share a commercial relationship that reached an estimated $1.8 trillion (€1.61 trillion) in trade in 2022, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative
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https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2024/08/28/mexico-abruptly-freezes-relations-with-us-canada-n3793756
https://www.dw.com/en/mexico-freezes-relations-with-us-canadian-embassies/a-70065716