Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) called for the removal of the Statue of Liberty in New York if the U.S. proceeds with the extradition and prosecution of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
The Mexican politician made the comment during one of his morning news conferences on July 4.
“We need to start the campaign to remove the Statue of Liberty that the French gave and is in New York because it is no longer a symbol of freedom,” Lopez Obrador said.
In his news conference, AMLO said that he would be bringing up the issue in an upcoming meeting with President Joe Biden.
“It’s a matter of humanism,” he said. “If they don’t do it, they will be stained.”
The Mexican politician has been a fierce defender of Assange and his work to release classified documents through Wikileaks. In the past, Lopez Obrador called Assange “the best journalist of our time” and his prosecution “an embarrassment to the world.”
The comment about the Statue of Liberty earned Lopez Obrador criticism in Mexico, as his country continues to experience a substantial trend of murdered journalists.
En defensa de Assange, Andrés Manuel Farol de la Calle propone una campaña para desmontar la Estatua de la Libertad. Hoy, 4 de julio. #IndependenceDay2022 pic.twitter.com/n0BV5jrh9y
— Víctor Trujillo (@V_TrujilloM) July 4, 2022
Nueva Yor en este momento….. pic.twitter.com/u5ydQXMz9Z
— Pancho Apartidista (@hcmuebles) July 4, 2022
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.