Mexico\u2019s\u00a0President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador is halting diplomatic\u00a0relations with the US and Canadian\u00a0embassies after their ambassadors criticized\u00a0his\u00a0proposal to have judges elected by popular vote. <\/p>\n
L\u00f3pez Obrador announced the move during his daily press conference on Tuesday, saying the \u201cpause\u201d is with the embassies and not the countries.\u00a0He said relations will be reestablished once the diplomats are \u201crespectful of the independence of Mexico, of the sovereignty of our country.\u201d <\/p>\n
L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s\u00a0proposal for judicial reform is\u00a0part of a package\u00a0of constitutional changes he has been seeking, which\u00a0have yet to been approved. On Monday, a congressional committee\u00a0approved the proposal, and it now requires two-thirds\u00a0approval in both chambers of Congress. <\/p>\n
The reforms include a range of issues in areas like pensions and the energy sector, but they also include controversial judicial and institutional reforms,\u00a0which critics say\u00a0would weaken the separation of powers and see the disappearance of some independent regulatory agencies. <\/p>\n
US Ambassador to Mexico\u00a0Ken Salazar said last Thursday that he believes a \u201cpopular direct election of judges is a major risk to the functioning of Mexico\u2019s democracy.\u201d\u00a0Salazar stressed that judicial reformneed to ensure the judiciary would be strengthened and not \u201csubject to the corruption of politics.\u201d <\/p>\n
The ambassador also said the move could impact the US-Mexico trade relations.\u00a0The US and\u00a0Mexico are each other\u2019s top trading partners. <\/p>\n
Canada\u2019s\u00a0ambassador\u00a0in Mexico, Graeme Clark, has warned of investor worries due to the proposed judicial reforms, and voiced concern about the \u201cdisappearance\u201d of some autonomous bodies. <\/p>\n
After L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s press conference on Tuesday, Salazar posted a note on X reiterating the \u201csignificant concerns\u201d the US has over the judicial reform. <\/p>\n
Several US lawmakers\u00a0also expressed their concern\u00a0on Tuesday, saying\u00a0judicial reform will\u00a0jeopardize \u201ccritical economic and security interests shared by our two nations\u201d including a regional trade pact. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are also alarmed that several other constitutional reforms currently under discussion may contradict commitments made in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement, which is scheduled for review in 2026,\u201d\u00a0read a statement from the US Senate\u2019s Foreign Relations Committee. <\/p>\n
The constitutional reforms\u00a0include eliminating several independent regulatory\u00a0bodies and merging others\u00a0that the government claims\u00a0are\u00a0duplicating\u00a0functions. L\u00f3pez Obrador is\u00a0seeking\u00a0to shutter the Personal Data Protection Institute (INAI). The regulator in February launched an investigation against L\u00f3pez Obrador after he disclosed the personal phone number of\u00a0a\u00a0New\u00a0York\u00a0Times journalist. <\/p>\n
The Mexican leader\u00a0previously hit back at the criticism\u00a0of his planned reforms saying that he is seeking \u201cto establish constitutional rights and strengthen ideals and principles related to humanism, justice, honesty, austerity and democracy.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Mexico\u2019s\u00a0President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador is halting diplomatic\u00a0relations with the US and Canadian\u00a0embassies after their ambassadors criticized\u00a0his\u00a0proposal to have judges elected by popular vote. L\u00f3pez Obrador announced the move during his daily press conference on Tuesday, saying the \u201cpause\u201d is with the embassies and not the countries.\u00a0He said relations will be reestablished once the diplomats […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}