Mexico's president has announced a “temporary pause” in relations with the US embassy. The announcement comes after US Ambassador Ken Salazar publicly criticized his efforts to reform the country's constitution. Salazar called the reform proposal a “grave danger” to the democracy of the United States' largest trading partner.
The Mexican president announced a “temporary pause” in relations with the US embassy, in response to US criticism of a judicial reform project.
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's announcement comes after U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar publicly criticized his efforts to reform the country's constitution to elect, rather than appoint, judges to the country's judiciary.
“How are we going to allow the ambassador, with all due respect, because this is not an argument between enemies, but how are we going to allow him to express his opinion that what we are doing is bad?” Lopez Obrador said at a news conference on Tuesday.
Salazar described the reform proposal as a “grave danger” to the democracy of the United States' largest trading partner.
“Based on my long experience in supporting the rule of law, I believe that the direct popular election of judges poses a great danger to the functioning of Mexican democracy,” Salazar said in a statement posted on social media site X on August 22.
He added that the debate over direct election of judges “would threaten the historic trade relationship we have built.”
This is an evolving story.
