Mexico Warns OAS, USAID From Interference in Midterm Elections

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador insisted on Thursday that his country will prevent interference from the Organization of American States (OAS) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in the upcoming midterm elections.

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In his morning press briefing at the National Palace, Lopez Obrador repeated that the OAS knows that Mexico is not a colony or a protectorate, Mexico is a free, independent, and sovereign nation. There is nothing to fear, we will be watching and people themselves help a lot in all this, he added.

The Mexican president asked citizens to cooperate and denounce any interference, so that the June 6 elections for governors and deputies are free, that no one sells or buys votes, no fraud or interference from countries or institutions such as OAS or the International Development Office (USAID).

Concerning USAID, which finances the opposition political group Mexicanos contra la Corrupción (Mexicans Against Corruption), headed by businessman Claudio Gonzalez, Lopez Obrador stressed that he will continue to condemn it until the United States responds to the diplomatic letter already sent, which asks whether USAID is going to continue with its practice of financing the opposition group.

"I'm waiting for the United States to respond and I disagree with the White House when it says that it is thinking about it since that opposition group continues to receive money from an official office at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico", the Mexican president added.

"We consider it a violation of Mexico's Constitution that an official agency of a foreign government is financing a political group in our country", Lopez Obrador concluded.