By Allan Wall
11/13/2020
After the Leftist Mainstream Media declared Biden “president-elect,” foreign leaders rushed to congratulate him. But absent from the honking gaggle of global geese: Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Indeed, as of this writing, despite chances at three news conferences, AMLO still has yet to congratulate Biden. He continues to speak well of President Trump and says he won’t recognize a president-elect until it’s official. In other words, AMLO has more respect for the American electoral process than many Americans, not least Treason-Lobby Democrats, NeverTrump Republicans, and the worthies of the MSM. It’s the latest twist in Trump’s surprising (to some) rapprochement with Mexico.
Among those who think/ hope Trump will depart the White House on January 20:
[Here are the world leaders who congratulated Joe Biden, by Jennifer Hansler and Nicole Gaouette, CNN, November 11, 2020]
But not AMLO. Perhaps that’s because he knows about ballot rigging. Or because he knows it stings when the kudos arrive before all the votes are counted.
In a press conference on November 7, AMLO explained that in 2006, during his contested election against Felipe Calderon, Spain’s prime minister congratulated eventual winner Calderon before the legal process was complete [Conferencia de prensa encabezada por el presidente Andrés Manuel López Obrador (“Press Conference of President Andres Manuela Lopez Obrador”), Gob.mx, November 7, 2020].
As the Los Angeles Times reported in the story below its silly “AMLO-blundered” headline:
Following his narrow loss in the 2006 presidential balloting, López Obrador mounted a protracted protest campaign alleging fraud that sent tens of thousands of supporters into the streets and shut down much of the capital for weeks. It was for naught: His conservative rival, Felipe Calderón, was declared the winner. As president, López Obrador has labelled Mexico during Calderón’s leadership as a corrupt “narco-state.”
On Saturday, López Obrador recalled with indignation how José Luis R. Zapatero, then the Spanish prime minister, recognized Calderón’s 2006 victory before certification of the final count.
“We don’t want to do the same thing,” López Obrador said.
[As the world congratulates Biden, Mexico’s president opts to wait. Critics call it a diplomatic blunder, by Patrick J. O’Donnell, November 8, 2020].
AMLO’s reticence to jump on the Biden Bandwagon invited criticism from Democrats in the U.S., among them Hispanic activist Joaquin Castro — no known close relation to Fidel but head of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee’s oversight subcommittee — who called it a “stunning diplomatic failure" [Latino Democrats tell Mexican president to get with the program and back Biden, by Anthony Esposito, Reuters, November 8, 2020].
A “stunning” failure? Really?
On November 9, at a press conference, the subject was raised again.
What about “this controversy resulting from the fact that you have still not recognized Joe Biden as president-elect?” a reporter asked. AMLO replied:
“I want to make it clear, I want to inform the people of Mexico that, in reference to the U.S. elections, the position of the government that I represent is to wait for the authorities of the United States in charge of the electoral process to decide the winner of the presidency. We cannot act in an imprudent manner.”
[Conferencia de prensa del presidente Andrés Manuel López Obrador del 9 de noviembre de 2020 (“Press Conference of President Andres Manuela Lopez Obrador”), Gob.mx, November 9, 2020]
Citing the Mexican Constitution, AMLO explained that his country’s “foreign policy should be guided by the principles of non-interventionism and self-determination of the peoples”:
“We do not want to get mixed up in the politics of other countries, of other nations. We have to be respectful of the decisions that other peoples take, that foreign governments take. This does not mean that we are against or in favor of anyone. …
We don’t want foreign interference in our affairs. Mexico is an independent, free and sovereign country. Thus, we are not in favor of any party in the United States.
We have a very good relationship with the government of President Donald Trump, because it has been a relationship of respect, of non-intervention.”
AMLO insisted that Mexico is neutral. It has nothing against Biden or the Democrats, but neither does it oppose the GOP.
“We are the party of Mexico,” he concluded. “That is our party.”
Then, as he has so often done, he complimented President Trump: “He never took a decision without consulting us and always respected us, he always respected us.”
AMLO discussed the 38 million Mexican-Americans in our country. (Mexicans consider them Mexicans, even if they are born in the U.S). “Some voted for one party, others voted for another party,” he explained, which is axiomatic but apparently requires explanation for the Mexican MSM, which is as Leftist as the American MSM.
He also acknowledged that Mexico’s government backed Hillary Clinton over Trump in 2016, an admission of foreign “collusion” that the Hate-Trump MSM ignored because it was on a Russian snipe hunt.
That segued naturally into the next subject.
Despite AMLO’s seeming disinterest in who takes the oath on January 20, he warned the probable incoming Biden-Harris regime about meddling in Mexico: “We will not permit what President Calderon permitted, the introduction of weapons in the secret Fast and Furious operation.”
Uh-oh.
Then, remarkably, he bashed anti-Trump censorship in the U.S., which including social media silencing Trump himself:
“That’s another interesting topic of what is occurring in the United States. How is that … in the country of liberty, of the free press, that suddenly they censor the president? That hadn’t been seen before, the media censoring.
I’m talking about the United States, because we’re used to it in Mexico. We were censored, we didn’t exist, here it’s not a novelty. But in the case of the United States what happened is something special, on the internet and then the big channels, the major informative media. And what about liberties?”
AMLO seems more concerned about tech censorship than your typical Republican.
Then came another news conference on November 11, and again, given the chance to acknowledge Biden’s putative victory, AMLO punted [Versión estenográfica. Conferencia de prensa del presidente Andrés Manuel López Obrador del 11 de noviembre de 2020 (Press Conference of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Gob.mx, November 11, 2020]!
AMLO spoke about the USMCA, the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (T-MEC in Spanish) Trump negotiated to replace NAFTA. AMLO’s predecessor Pena Nieto signed the USMCA, but AMLO also backs it. It “benefits Mexico,” he said, “but without ceding our independence, our sovereignty.”
Reporters brought up Biden again, but AMLO remained firm, and instead turned the subject to … censorship in the United States:
“Some days ago I commented that I didn’t like what they did in the United States, with all respect, with all respect. The censorship, how? To turn off the television because someone is talking, to turn off the radio? In the United States, that has defended the freedom of expression so much, one of the fundamental liberties, the freedom of the press. That had never happened before.”
And why fear people talking? Why shut them down? Let them, anybody, let the people be the one to decide if they like it or not. Why censor?”
Let’s make this guy CEO of Twitter! Or Fox!
I’ve written about AMLO on VDARE.com for years. In 2006, I said he was no threat to us, despite his Leftist credentials: “If we had a pro-sovereignty, pro-American government in Washington, it wouldn’t matter a hill of beans what any Mexican president said or did about our immigration policy.”
That was 14 years ago. Two years ago, AMLO became president of Mexico and forged a fast friendship and good working relationship with Trump — the man, the MSM repeatedly told us, who hated Mexico and Mexicans. But if that’s true, why has AMLO repeatedly refused to criticize him — and why has AMLO stanched the flow of Central American illegals through Mexico to our southern frontier?
Will AMLO wait until the Electoral College has spoken on December 14 to congratulate Biden? No one can say. But in refusing to do so now, he has shown more respect for Trump than our own elected leaders!
It’s all a credit to Trump. But he won’t get credit for it.
Instead, it’s AMLO’s “blunder.”
American citizen Allan Wall (email him) moved back to the U.S.A. in 2008after many years residing in Mexico. Allan’s wife is Mexican, and their two sons are bilingual. In 2005, Allan served a tour of duty in Iraq with the Texas Army National Guard. His VDARE.COM articles are archived here; his Mexidata.info articles are archived here; his News With Views columns are archived here; and his website is here.
This is a content archive of VDARE.com, which Letitia James forced off of the Internet using lawfare.