MEXICO CITY — Former Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador issued a blistering statement criticizing President Trump and describing what he called a conspiracy by the his administration to weaken the Mexican left.
He said a U.S. campaign against “narco-terrorism”was not a genuine attempt to solve a serious problem but a “pretext” to intervene in Mexican affairs.
After he left office in 2024, López Obrador retired to his sprawling ranch in southern Chiapas state, where he has largely stayed out of the public eye. But amid a mounting crisis for Morena, the leftist political party he founded, López Obrador reemerged Wednesday night after The Times reported that the U.S. was investigating two border state governors, both Morena members, for possible ties to cartels.
“To be clear,” wrote López Obrador, “some U.S. officials are plotting to weaken Morena and strengthen the right-wing opposition in Mexico with the idea of once again having a subservient government … that is vulnerable, subordinate and loyal to their interventionist designs.”
The former president’s message comes amid threats of U.S. military strikes on cartel targets on Mexico soil and as the Trump administration deepens its probes into sitting Mexican officials suspected of links to organized crime. The U.S. recently indicted several prominent Morena leaders, including the governor of Sinaloa state, for drug trafficking. And as the Times reported this week, it has revoked the visas of two other governors who are also under investigation.
López Obrador said the Trump administration blames Mexico “for all of its ills,” which he compared to Adolf Hitler’s “propaganda tactic of repeating lies.”
López Obrador also offered his full support for President Claudia Sheinbaum, who in recent days has adopted a more defiant tone, condemning the investigations into Morena officials as a U.S. smear campaign aimed at hurting her government.
She has accused “sectors of the American far right” of using Mexico ahead of midterm elections in the U.S. and in Mexico. And she has so far refused to comply with a U.S. request that it extradite Gov. Rubén Rocha Moya of Sinaloa, a close ally of López Obrador who is accused along with other Morena officials of protecting the Sinaloa cartel.
The U.S. has made no secret of its desire to see right-wing leaders elected in Latin America, with Trump endorsing conservative candidates in Argentina, Colombia, Honduras and Ecuador.
Still, Mexico’s insistence that U.S. investigations into Morena leaders is purely political is a risky stance. After two decades of drug war violence and instability, many Mexicans say organized crime is the country’s biggest challenge. And it is an open secret that in many parts of the country, criminals collude with elected leaders.
The accusations against members of Morena are particularly damaging because López Obrador rose to power on a promise to combat corruption, vowing that no one would be spared, even “brothers-in-arms.”
Sheinbaum has arrested dozens of local officials accused of wrongdoing, including some affiliated with Morena. But her opponents say she should be doing much more.
López Obrador, in his letter, said that when he was president, from 2018 until 2024, he had a better relationship with Trump, whom he described as a friend. He also Trump said appeared open to “reasoned dialogue without confrontation.”
López Obrador speculated a group of “inexperienced, resentful, and fanatical advisers” with “vile and sinister” intentions can be blamed for Trump’s harsher treatment of Mexico. He advised Trump to tell those advisers “to go to hell.”
Cecilia Sánchez Vidal in the Times’ Mexico City bureau contributed to this report.
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