Thread: Mexico urges respect from U.S. for 2018 presidential election

Mexico urges respect from U.S. for 2018 presidential election

Thu Apr 6, 2017 | 5:16pm EDT


Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray stands during a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson at the
State Department in Washington, U.S., April 5, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

U.S. officials should be respectful of the Mexican 2018 presidential election, Mexico's foreign minister said on Thursday, after a top U.S. security official suggested a win by a leftist candidate would be bad for both nations.

Speaking with senators on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly agreed with Republican Senator John McCain's view that "if the election were tomorrow in Mexico, you would probably get a left-wing, anti-American president of Mexico. That can't be good for America."

Kelly, who was speaking at a Senate committee on homeland security and governmental affairs hearing, echoed that viewpoint.

"It would not be good for America or for Mexico," he said.

Though Kelly and McCain stopped short of naming anyone in particular, their comments were seen in Mexico as a clear swipe at leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a populist who many see as the frontrunning candidate in the 2018 presidential election.

Speaking at a news conference in Washington on Thursday, Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said he broached the issue with Kelly.

"I told him in a respectful but clear manner that the electoral decisions ... correspond to Mexicans alone and that what we expect from the United States is respect toward the Mexican electoral process," Videgaray said.

For his part, Lopez Obrador rejected the accusation that he was "anti-American."

"Our relationship with the United States will be one of friendship and cooperation, but not one of submission. We are a free and sovereign nation," he said according to a press release.

Regarding the looming renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, Videgary said Mexico would prefer to conclude the talks this year rather than in 2018, when the Mexico's election takes place.

Some view Videgaray, a former finance minister now leading complex trade, security and migration negotiations with the Trump administration, as a possible presidential candidate in 2018 for the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party.

(Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez and Anahi Rama; Writing by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Tom Brown)

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-us...-idUSKBN1782O1

Like Mexico respected our Presidential elections with Donald Trump?

Originally Posted by lorrie

Like Mexico respected our Presidential elections with Donald Trump?

Just what I was thinking.

Should we have protests by Americans in Mexico - should they contribute one or the other candidates - should they sneak around and vote in the election?

Then, of course, President Trump should insult one of the candidates, just in general be nasty.

That's the way they 'respected' our elections.

We will "respect" them with Pinata's of their President and burning the Mexican Flag. After all...that is what THEY did to us.

I think Americans have lost all respect for the people and government of Mexico. No nation like ours can maintain any level of respect for a country of leeches, cheats, drug cartels, invaders, murderers, breeders, beggars and whiners like what Mexico has demonstrated over decades at the expense of the United States and the American People. Our President when he was a candidate flew down to meet with your President to resolve our issues and solve problems in a diplomatic manner and what did you do? Your President tweeted about a wall. When we move forward to build a wall to protect our people from yours invading our nation and propose various tariffs to protect our trade, what did you do? Your officials threatened our nation with killer narcotics and terrorists.

No, The Americans will never respect your country again.

I did a google search on Andrés Manuel López Obrador. He doesn't sound all bad. For one thing he wants to stop taking aid in the form of money and weapons from the United States.

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want him for our President, but he does support some things that may help keep his citizens at home! He wants to make Mexico a welfare state and supports subsidies for senior citizens and minorities.