Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced that his country was pausing relations with the U.S. and Canadian embassies in Mexico following letters and statements. The president says diplomatic officials from both countries had spoken out against his proposed judicial reform, which calls for yearly open elections for all federal judges.
“They have to learn to respect Mexico’s sovereignty,” Lopez Obrador said during his morning news conference. The Mexican politician said that he was not kicking them out of the country but simply pausing the relationship until they learned not to interfere with Mexico’s government.
The move comes just days after U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar and Canadian Ambassador Graeme Clark claimed that an independent judicial body was an important part of a Democracy and that having elected judges also opened the door to corruption and cartel influence. As Breitbart Texas reported, in his letter, Salazar pointed out that before being a diplomat, he had been in law practice for more than 25 years and, as a politician and diplomat, had seen how important an independent judiciary was.
The issue at hand is a judicial reform pushed by AMLO and his party that would have yearly elections for federal judges and implement several other measures that scholars claim would tie the hands of an independent judicial body. Political opponents claim that judicial reform is a step by Lopez Obrador and his party to take full control of the three bodies of government. The move has been met with harsh resistance from most sitting judges who have gone on strike. However, Lopez Obrador’s MORENA party has been pushing forward with the measure.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.