Mexico’s Foreign Relations Ministry (SRE) sent a diplomatic complaint, and the country’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, harshly criticized a series of comments by U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar. The ambassador claimed that Mexico’s security strategy, “Hugs Not Bullets,” had failed.
On Wednesday night, the SRE sent out the diplomatic complaint expressing displeasure over a series of comments made that day by Ambassador Salazar. In a news conference, Salazar claimed that Mexico faced a big problem and that the security strategy implemented by former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, known as “Hugs Not Bullets,” did not work. The diplomat also stated that Mexico’s government falsely claimed the country was safe when the reality was very different.
“For many years, it has been said that all is well in Mexico,” Salazar said in Spanish. “That there is safety in Mexico … To claim that there are no problems is to deny the reality.”
Salazar claimed that Mexico can not stay with the explanations they gave in the past and that to blame others, like Mexican officials who blamed the U.S. government, is not the answer.
As Breitbart Texas previously reported, Mexico’s government claimed that the U.S. government’s operation that led to the arrest of Sinaloa Cartel boss Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada was to blame for the recent spike in violence that led to a war between two factions of the cartel.
The comments from Salazar come as the diplomat has changed his approach to Mexico and has been openly critical of Lopez Obrador. Salazar was previously seen as subservient to the Mexican leader, to the point that various U.S. politicians privately and openly questioned his allegiances.
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.