López Obrador denounces blackmail by U.S. legislators

Mexico City, June 9 (RHC)-- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Wednesday described U.S. Senators Robert Menendez, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz as "blackmailers" in the cases of Cuba, Mexico and the 9th Summit of the Americas.

He addressed the issue in his daily morning press conference at the National Palace when answering a question about the migrant caravan that left the town of Tapachula, with the intermediate destination of Mexico City, and from here to the border with the United States.

He said that he will discuss the issue with Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard when he returns from Los Angeles, where he is participating "in the (Joe) Biden summit, because the White House has not given a single cent to attack the causes of the exodus in Central America."

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at the summit about numbers, but there are no plans or anything concrete, he added.  He recalled that "now there are elections in the United States and everything depends on that and we are going to see how the immigration issue is resolved and what the United States will really do, since in five years it has contributed nothing."

The Mexican president also criticized those three legislators for their blackmail and anti-immigrant attitude, and responded to accusations by Rubio and Cruz that by defending the attendance of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua at the summit he was supporting dictatorships, and they also described him as a drug trafficker.

He responded that these senators are not interested in human rights, which they constantly violate, and that the three of them supported $40 billion in arms for Ukraine and reject $4 billion to solve migration issues in Central America.

He explained that Rubio and Cruz are Republicans, but Menendez is a Democrat and since there is a 50-50 tie in the Upper House, his vote is fundamental and, for that reason, he is blackmailing the Biden administration and threatening not to vote in favor of the President's initiatives if he does not rigorously apply punitive policies to Cuba and Mexico.

He called on them to present proof that his government is allied to drug trafficking, confusing it with that of Felipe Calderón, which was involved in drugs and which they supported.

He revealed that he has proof that Cruz is paid by the National Rifle Association so that legislation on gun control is not approved, and only in 2021 he received 176 thousand dollars for it, and there is proof of that.

He criticized that the Government of a country such as the United States allows itself to be guided by dogmas, premeditation, hatred and allows itself to be held hostage by personal interests or groups that profit from the pain and suffering of the people.

He affirmed that we must know how to rectify, not fall into complacency, it is necessary and wise to change our opinion because only the truth will set us free.

He expressed his hope that his fellow Mexicans living in the United States, who number 40 million, will become aware of attitudes such as those of Menendez, Rubio and Cruz, who depend on the Latin American vote and will not cast their ballots for them.