Mexican President Summons South American Marxists To Parry United States

AMLO aims to take advantage of a recent wave of leftist election winners for the purpose of reducing America’s influence in the region.

AP/Marco Ugarte
The Mexican president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, at the National Palace, Mexico City, November 14, 2022. AP/Marco Ugarte

President Lopez Obrador of Mexico is inviting Latin American leaders for a parley at his capital city, hoping to take advantage of a recent wave of leftist election winners for the purpose of reducing America’s influence in the region. 

The list of leaders who have already confirmed attendance in the November 23-25 Mexico City summit, announced by Mr. Lopez Obrador last week, includes Chile’s Gabriel Boric, Argentina’s Alberto Fernandez, Peru’s Pedro Castillo, and Colombia’s Gustavo Petro. Brazil’s elected president, Lula da Silva, has yet to confirm his participation, according to Mr. Lopez Obrador.

As of yet, the dictators of Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua are absent from the list. Earlier this year Mr. Lopez Obrador declined President Biden’s invitation to the Summit of the Americas at Los Angeles, protesting that these elders were disinvited. Washington argued that it had only sent invites to leaders of the region’s democracies. 

In a press conference last week the Mexican president, known as AMLO, called for forming a European Union-like grouping that would benefit all of the countries in the region. Latin America should “no longer be considered a place of inequality and poverty,” he said, adding that the new group would integrate economies, commerce, and politics in order to boost “sovereignty of the countries” of the region.  

AMLO has long claimed that the region’s existing umbrella group, the Organization of American States, is overly dominated by America. “We would like to reform the OAS so that it isn’t subordinated to any country, any government, so that it isn’t in thrall to any hegemony,” he said last week.

Mexico is undergoing its most significant wave of anti-government protest since Mr. Lopez Obrador entered office nearly four years ago. During the weekend, tens of thousands of people gathered at the capital to voice opposition to Mr. Lopez Obrador’s proposal to overhaul the country’s electoral system.   

The initiative, which AMLO intends to present to the Mexican congress in coming weeks, seeks to eliminate state-level elected offices, cut funding to political parties, and reduce the number of members in congress. On Monday Mr. Lopez Obrador dismissed the protesters as “racist” and “classist.” To deflect from the outcry, he is turning to regional policy. 

There are “unbeatable conditions” currently that could unite Latin America, Mr. Lopez Obrador said. Two weeks ago the leftist Mr. da Silva was elected president in Brazil, defeating the right-wing incumbent, President Bolsonaro, and completing the leftist wave across the region. Latin America’s seven largest economies are now governed by Marxists.

“It is positive that President Petro’s triumph has been recognized in Colombia, as well as Lula’s in Brazil,” Mr. Lopez Obrador said, emphasizing that while the region is moving forward, America is moving ahead with its negotiations with Venezuela.

Last month, it was reported that Mr. Biden is considering lifting sanctions against Venezuela to allow Chevron Corporation to resume pumping oil in the country. Sanctions, however, are already being lifted: Earlier this year Washington and Caracas completed a prisoner swap, as seven Americans were released in exchange for two of Mr. Maduro’s nephews, who were convicted in a New York federal court of drug trafficking. 


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