Seeking to improve understanding, communication, and cooperation between Mexico and the United States by promoting original research, encouraging public discussion, and proposing policy options for enhancing the bilateral relationship.
5/30/2019 – Associated Press
By Will Weissert
Democratic presidential contenders are in a feverish battle to one-up each other with ever-more-ambitious plans to beat back global warming , curb gun violence , offer universal health care coverage , slash student debt and preserve abortion rights . Largely left out of the policy parade: immigration.
5/29/2019 – Associated Press
By Cedar Attanasio
A Mexican man accused of running a death squad for convicted drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was due in a Texas courtroom on Wednesday to face a raft of charges.
5/5/2019 – Reuters
By Josue Gonzalez
Several thousand people marched through Mexico City on Sunday to demand the resignation of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in the first major protest against the leftist leader in the capital since he took office five months ago.
Largely dressed in white, protesters marched down the capital’s main thoroughfare, with many chanting: “AMLO, out!” using the president’s nickname, based on his initials.
Some covered their mouths with masking tape on which they had written: “AMLO resign.” Others waved signs bearing slogans including “Mexico isn’t yours” and “You’re not Robin Hood.”
3/20/2019 – The Washington Post
By
MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has signed an open letter promising to not seek re-election after his six-year term ends in 2024.
That move was prompted by opposition fears that a proposal to let voters oust the president midway through his term might actually end up letting him serve longer.
The president’s supporters in Congress advanced legislation last week that would call a referendum halfway through presidential terms — an idea Lopez Obrador had campaigned on.
3/15/2019 -Reuters
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s Lower House on Thursday approved a constitutional reform that would allow for referendums to cut short the six-year presidential term, a move opposition lawmakers say opens the door to allowing re-election to the nation’s highest office.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who took office on Dec. 1, said during the campaign that he would hold a referendum on his performance at the middle of his term and would cut it short if he loses the consultation.
Lopez Obrador’s MORENA party and its allies hold majorities in both chambers of Congress. The constitutional reform received the required support of two thirds of lawmakers in the Lower House. It now goes to the Senate for discussion and a vote.
3/12/2019 – Bloomberg
By Shannon K O’Neil
Latin America’s two biggest economies are in their first 100 days under new management. During the presidential campaigns in Brazil and Mexico, democracy’s champions worried most about Brazil, given Jair Bolsonaro’s nostalgia for military rule. Yet today it is Mexico’s democracy that is under greater threat: President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, known as AMLO, is systematically concentrating power in an already strong executive.
From the start, AMLO has undermined democratic norms and checks and balances. Despite controlling a constitutional majority in Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies and sizable majority in its Senate, he has often chosen to work outside the formal legislative process. Instead he has relied on dubious public “referendums,” sampling small and politically skewed groups to set agricultural policy, boost pensions, authorize infrastructure projects and create scholarships.
He has attacked and stacked the courts. He quickly moved to cut judges’ salaries and take control of court officials’ evaluations and promotions. His first nominations to the highest bench include the wife of a favored contractor and party loyalists.
12/3/2018 – New York Times
MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday said he was working with the United States and Canada to create a three-way investment plan to tackle the issue of immigration from Mexico and Central America.
Lopez Obrador, speaking in his first news conference since taking office on Saturday, also said that investments in an airport project for the capital, which he has said he will cancel, will be guaranteed. A trust on Monday said it would buy back up to $1.8 billion of debt issued to fund the project.
