The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has condemned the US government’s funding of the Mexican opposition through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). As evidence, he highlighted the recent exposépublished by Mexican journalist Nancy Flores in the investigative news outlet Contralínea revealing that from 2019-2021, the United States government through USAID sponsorship programs donated 48.9 million Mexican pesos, equivalent to about $2.8 million, to Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity (MCCI), a right-wing political organization masquerading as a civil society association.
President López Obrador has repeatedly accused the US government of financing the Mexican opposition with the aim of destabilizing his government. Recently, USAID denied that the funds it allocates to “civil society” in Mexico, or any other country, have any political objective.
“No funding from the US government can be used for partisan purposes,” the USAID stated in a formal response to AMLO’s allegations.
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However, the president reiterated his criticisms on Thursday, May 18, during his regular morning press conference. “This US agency [USAID] distances itself from the criticism and says that it is not true, but there is evidence that it gives money to these groups that are openly against a legal, legitimate, and independent government,” he said while showcasing Contralínea’s investigative reporting.
He emphasized that the US government’s funding of the Mexican opposition is an act of interference and a violation of Mexico’s sovereignty. “We are not a colony or protectorate, they have to learn to respect us,” AMLO said.
USAID’s ambiguous response and AMLO’s criticisms
Recently, the USAID issued a response to the Mexican president’s criticisms of the US government’s allocation of funds to organizations that are openly opposed to his administration and all of his policies. “The US government and its agencies have rigorous mechanisms in place to monitor and ensure that US assistance is implemented objectively and in accordance with the provisions of the grants,” USAID said in that statement sent to the government of Mexico.
The agency stated that it has “collaborated” with Mexico for more than 40 years and is “a key partner” in the international cooperation of the two countries, embodied by López Obrador and US President Joe Biden.
“Today, USAID and the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID) jointly coordinate our overseas assistance to address the root causes of migration in northern Central America,” the statement said.
It added that the USAID also focuses on mutual US-Mexico priorities such as combating crime and violence, strengthening the rule of law, improving transparency, and protecting and promoting human rights.
The statement also claimed that the USAID funds programs that help the people of rural communities create sources of income while respecting the environment.
However, López Obrador pointed out that the programs that US agencies finance in Mexico are actually based on the interests of the US government as evidenced by its financing of the MCCI, headed by multimillionaire businessman Claudio X. González Guajardo, one of the main opponents of the current government of Mexico.
For AMLO, who even penned a letter to Biden at the beginning of this year about the interventionist acts of the US government in Mexico, USAID “has dedicated itself to financing organizations openly opposed to the legal and legitimate government” that he represents, and demanded an end to the allocation of funds to such organizations.
(Últimas Noticias) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
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