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The US has issued a blunt rebuke of a judicial overhaul proposed by Mexico’s president on Thursday, threatening to deepen a diplomatic rift with its top partner on migration and trade.
Ken Salazar, the US ambassador to Mexico, said a plan by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to replace judges via elections posed a risk democracy and bilateral trade between the neighbours.
“I believe popular direct election of judges is a major risk to the functioning of Mexico’s democracy,” Salazar told reporters in Mexico City. “Direct elections would also make it easier for cartels and other bad actors to take advantage of politically motivated and inexperienced judges.”
The comments stand in sharp contrast to praise less than a week ago from Salazar — who has been criticised for being too close to López Obrador — for some aspects of the proposals, saying he saw them as “an opportunity to do good things”.
Under President Joe Biden, the US government has rarely criticised Mexico’s leader, as it has sought its help in containing a surge of migrants across its southern border. The Mexican government has been deploying more resources to stop migrants, contributing to a notable fall in the number of illegal crossings.
Salazar’s change of tone on Thursday comes less than two weeks before Mexico’s Congress plans to discuss and vote on the reforms. American lawmakers and business groups have been increasingly speaking out against the plans, which lawyers say could violate the USMCA trade agreement between the US, Mexico and Canada.
Throughout his presidency López Obrador has pursued policies that critics say hurt foreign investment, allow organised crime to expand and threaten democracy. He has proposed 18 constitutional changes he wants to push through Congress in his final weeks in office.
López Obrador and his successor, Claudia Sheinbaum, who takes office in October, have been clear that they believe their reforms will strengthen democracy and the justice system by bringing judges closer to the people.
Mexico’s judges are on strike over the constitutional changes, which they say threaten judicial independence.
Relations between the US and Mexico have grown increasingly sour in recent weeks, beginning with the dramatic and controversial capture and extradition of one of Mexico’s most notorious cartel leaders, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.
“I think there was too much pressure from the US private sector saying that the Biden administration had to put its foot down,” said Ruben Olmos, president of Washington-based consulting firm Global Nexus. “This is happening in a very complicated moment for the bilateral relationship.”
Olmos said there was always a risk that Mexico could stop co-operating just months before the US presidential election in November. “Things are going to get a lot more tense,” he said.
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