Mexico’s President-Elect Claudia Sheinbaum and her political allies reacted to a series of comments made by Presidential Candidate Donald Trump that were not directed at them but at U.S. President Joe Biden. The premature reaction by Mexico’s political elite appears to have been fueled by Mexican journalists who mistranslated and widely shared the comments from a poorly edited video on social media.
As the six-year presidential term of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) comes to an end, his legacy will be the highest number of homicides recorded under any presidential term since the Mexican Revolution. The record 191,600 murders during his term highlight the devastating effects of his “Abrazos, no blazes” or “Hugs, not bullets” policy approach to dealing with the violent drug cartels operating throughout the county.
Claudia Sheinbaum, the candidate for the ruling leftist party, was overwhelmingly elected the next president of Mexico in Sunday’s general election.
In the month leading up to Sunday’s Mexican presidential election, migrant apprehensions along the U.S. southwestern border dropped to less than 118,000. This represents the third lowest month since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021.
Journalists grilled a Mexican presidential hopeful during her visit to the border state of Tamaulipas for campaigning alongside a cartel-connected former governor. The former governor has a pending arrest warrant from the U.S. Department of Justice on money laundering charges.
A doxing scandal started by Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador led to the additional doxing of two presidential candidates. The president also admitted that he didn’t care if he broke the law by starting the controversy.
Mexico and the United States will hold presidential elections within the same calendar year for the first time in more than two decades. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s willingness to crack down on migrant crossings may have more to do with securing an election victory for U.S. President Joe Biden and his own ruling Morena political party than securing the border. A temporary pause in migration designed to ensure a November win for the Democrats in the United States and a June win for AMLO’s Morena party candidate, Claudia Sheinbaum, could keep the border wide open for years to come.
