Mexico’s ex-president accuses US of plotting to weaken governing party

Mexico’s former president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has accused US officials of trying to weaken the governing party to strengthen the opposition, amid rising tensions between the two countries over Washington’s investigations into several Mexican governors.“Some US officials are plotting to weaken Morena and strengthen the rightwing opposition in Mexico with the aim of restoring a subservient, corrupt, mafia-like, and cruel government,” López Obrador wrote in a lengthy letter posted on X on Wednesday.The former leader, known popularly as Amlo, also accused officials of using “Hitler-like propaganda of repeating and repeating lies with an eye toward the upcoming November elections, to continue blaming Mexico for each and every one of their problems.”Amlo’s letter comes as tensions between Mexico and the US reach a boiling point following revelations that CIA agents were working in Mexico, as well as the Department of Justice’s indictment of the governor of Sinaloa on drug-trafficking charges in April.The LA Times has also reported that two more Mexican governors had their US visas revoked and were under investigation by US authorities.Amlo, who is reportedly living in retirement on a ranch in southern Mexico, continues to hold tremendous influence over the Morena party he founded: Mexico’s current president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has hewn closely to the former leader’s rhetoric and followed through on several of his political projects.On Thursday, she displayed Amlo’s letter during her morning news conference, reading excerpts from the missive and saying with apparent glee: “This debate is so great. Truly. It’s so good! Very important.”In the five-page letter, López Obrador also mused about the “surprising change in President Donald Trump’s attitude, especially regarding relations with Mexico”.Despite Trump’s disparaging comments about Mexicans during his campaign, he and Amlo formed an unlikely alliance as populist leaders. As López Obrador writes in his letter, they found common ground on matters like trade and security.“There were several issues that we resolved, for the good of our people, through reasoned dialogue and without confrontation,” López Obrador writes.Amlo then speculates why the US leader might have changed during his second term, suggesting perhaps it was due to changing circumstances, the fact that he is in his final term or that he “increasingly relies on his inexperienced, resentful, and fanatical advisers for decision-making”.Amlo suggests this latter point is the true reason behind Trump’s apparent transformation: “his false friends and advisers, both internal and external, who have been leading him into vile and sinister adventures.”López Obrador urges Trump to “tell the parasites surrounding him to go to hell” and concludes by saying “for everyone’s sake, let the other Trump return”.