Bad news for democracy! Mexican presidential front-runner might back Venezuela, and Cuba (by Andrés Oppenheimer)
Bad news for supporters of democracy across the Americas: Claudia Sheinbaum, the government-backed front-runner in Mexico’s June 2 presidential elections, has suggested that, if she wins, she will maintain Mexico’s current support for Cuba, Venezuela, and other dictatorships.
In the third and final presidential debate on May 19, Sheinbaum said “We are going to maintain the foreign policy of the president of the Republic,” referring to leftist-populist president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. She added that Lopez Obrador’s foreign policy “is a medal of pride” for Mexicans.
What’s more, she tacitly paid homage to late Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. During the debate, she criticized former Mexican President Vicente Fox for famously asking the Cuban ruler to “have lunch and leave” at a 2002 Summit of the Americas in Monterrey, Mexico. Under her presidency, there would have been no such demand to Castro, she said.
Lopez Obrador has been a major regional ally of Venezuela and Cuba. When he took office in 2018, Lopez Obrador invited Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro to his inauguration in Mexico City, defying a regional effort to isolate the Venezuelan ruler after he had reelected himself fraudulently earlier that year.
Lopez Obrador also signed generous agreements with Cuba to bring Cuban medical missions to Mexico and to supply Cuba with oil at preferential prices. Last year, Lopez Obrador awarded the Order of the Aztec Eagle, Mexico’s highest medal for foreign dignitaries, to Cuban dictator Miguel Diaz-Canel.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE BY ANDRES OPPENHEIMER IN THE MIAMI HERALD
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