Mexican president denounces USAID funds as interventionist

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has issued a letter to the administration of Joe Biden, calling for the United States to end aid to organisations he perceives as opposed to his government.

The letter specifically identifies funds from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), though it does not name the groups López Obrador objects to.  “The U.S. government, specifically through USAID, has for some time been financing organisations openly against the legal and legitimate government I represent,” he said in the letter, dated Tuesday and read during the president’s morning press briefing on Wednesday.

“This is clearly an interventionist act, contrary to international law and the relations which should prevail between free and sovereign states.”  Wednesday’s comments echo earlier pushback from López Obrador, who previously sent the US a diplomatic note in 2021 denouncing USAID funds.

At the time, he objected specifically to funding for the nonprofit Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity.  “A foreign government can’t provide money to political groups,” he said of the funds, adding: “It’s promoting a form of coup.”

In his latest letter, López Obrador appeals directly to Biden to halt the funds. On Tuesday, the Mexican president met with White House Homeland Security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall to discuss border policy ahead of the expiration of Title 42, a policy U.S. officials used to expel asylum seekers during the COVID pandemic.