Canada Is Trying to Stop AMLO From Putting Mexico in Control of Its Own Resources

BY
OWEN SCHALK

Mexican president AMLO has launched ambitious efforts to strengthen Mexico’s sovereignty over its energy, mining, and agriculture sectors. It’s provoked challenges to AMLO’s democratic mandate not only from the US, but also Canadian premier Justin Trudeau.



Justin Trudeau (L) shakes hands with Andres Manuel López Obrador (R) during the welcome ceremony for Canadian prime minister on January 11, 2023 in Mexico City, Mexico. (Manuel Velasquez / Getty Images)


The MORENA party of Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) is in a strong position going into the 2024 general election. According to one polling aggregator, AMLO’s party has the support of 48 percent of respondents, while the two major opposition parties, the National Action Party (PAN) and the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) — whose monopoly over Mexican politics AMLO broke when he won the 2018 election — sit at 18 percent and 14 percent, respectively. AMLO’s personal approval rating, meanwhile, is even better: almost 70 percent.

The contest to nominate AMLO’s successor in MORENA will occur on Septmber 6, and there are currently two front-runners: Claudia Sheinbaum, the former head of government for Mexico City, and Marcelo Ebrard, the former secretary of foreign affairs. Both resigned from their positions earlier in June to contest the party’s leadership.

In the meantime, AMLO is pursuing several major policies that he hopes the next legislature will approve, including lowering the pension age from sixty-eight to sixty-five and reforming the Supreme Court so that justices are elected by popular vote. MORENA’s recent victory in the election for governor of Mexico’s most populous state, the State of Mexico, is another indication that, going forward, AMLO’s agenda can rely on a significant mandate from the Mexican people.

More:
https://jacobin.com/2023/06/canada-amlo-mexico-resources-morena-sovereignty/