MSF responds in support of Government's stand against interventionism
In recent weeks Mexico has experienced illegal infiltration and threats to its sovereignty by the United States on a scale not seen for many years. The Government of Presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum has denounced this and taken clear legal and constitutional measures to defend national interests against interventionism and treasonous actions by unpatriotic Mexicans.
In these circumstances the Mexico Solidarity Forum (UK) declares its complete solidarity with the Mexican Government and with Presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum, and calls on all British labour, popular and progressive organisations to express their support and share this declaration.
Until recently Mexico had been remarkably successful, despite repeated threats and intemperate declarations from President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others, in preventing infringements on its sovereignty and negotiating agreements on matters of trade, migration, justice and law enforcement based on mutual respect and cooperation without subordination. This included Mexico’s heroic stance in support for Cuba and its insistence on national control of key resources, such as the energy sector.
This relationship of formal respect and negotiation continued despite Trump’s appointment of the notorious former CIA officer Ronald Johnson as Ambassador. But this changed with revelations that emerged in mid to late April, when the death in a road accident in the northern state of Chihuahua of four individuals, two US citizens and two Mexicans, who had been involved in the alleged dismantling of a narcotics laboratory on 16-17 April, was reported. The US citizens were revealed to be CIA agents and the Mexicans Chihuahua state police, and there are indications that four or more CIA agents may be in Chihuahua: it is illegal and unconstitutional for foreign agents to operate in enforcement actions in Mexico. Also their presence, even in an advisory capacity, is a prerogative of the Mexican federal authorities: state governments cannot invite them without prior authorisation by the federal government, normally the Foreign Secretary’s office.
Chihuahua Governor Maru Campos of the right-wing PAN party tried to justify this on the grounds of fighting crime, ignoring the fact that it is unconstitutional and an infringement of sovereignty. Presidenta Sheinbaum declared that there must be an explanation by the State government and by the US Embassy, and the Mexican Attorney General’s office (Fiscalía General de la República) started an investigation. The Presidenta has declared that it is not even a matter of political ideology but of observing the law and the Constitution, although she has also pointed out that it is the historic characteristic of Mexican conservatives to betray their own country for partisan gain. They are no different from Santa Ana (Antonio López de Santa Ana who sold out Mexico in the disastrous US invasion of 1846-48), or the defeated conservatives who invited the French invasion of 1862.
The legal assault on Mexican sovereignty took a new turn on 28 April when the US Department of Justice, via the Southern District Court of New York, issued arrest warrants with extradition orders against 10 Mexican politicians, beginning with the state Governor of Sinaloa, Rubén Rocha Moya, for alleged links to organised crime.
This unprecedented action brought an immediate response by the Mexican Attorney General’s office pointing out that no arrest warrant is valid unless accompanied by documentary evidence; that if prima facie evidence exists it should first be investigated in Mexico; and that the extradition treaty requires confidentiality of the identities of the accused, which had already been violated in the public US statements.
Presidenta Sheinbaum also insisted on the need for due legal process, and declared that if no firm evidence is presented, it is clear that the motivation of these accusations is political. “It must be absolutely clear: on no account will we allow interference or intervention of a foreign government in decisions which belong exclusively to the Mexican people. Truth, justice and defence of sovereignty: that is our position”.
Mexico is now under threat through a combination of lawfare and covert action as part of the Trump administration’s war on Latin America. Its remarkable Fourth Transformation, an example to the world of social justice, real democracy and sovereignty, is intolerable to imperialism. It must be defended.