MEXICO CITY

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday responded to criticism made by Republican US Senator Ted Cruz towards his presidency.

Ted Cruz on Thursday expressed his concerns and criticism towards Mexico’s current administration under Lopez Obrador, and its impact on US national security.

“I’m deeply concerned about deepening civil unrest in Mexico and their breakdown in their civil society, the breakdown of the rule of law across our southern border poses acute national security challenges and dangers to the United States,” said Cruz at a Congress address.

Lopez Obrador criticized the comments made by the Texan lawmaker, saying that it was in the senator’s conservative nature to oppose his administration and Mexican migrants living in the US.

“It is a moment of transformation because the truth is that this is a mark of pride that a senator like this person launches against the government that I represent. It fills me with pride, for what he represents, for what we represent.

“If he praised me, if he spoke well of me, maybe I would think that we are not doing things right,” said Lopez Obrador at his press conference.

Furthermore, Cruz posed a direct question to the Biden administration, asking whether the Democratic federal government had taken any steps to take a role in recent civil unrest in Mexico, which Cruz said, is “endangering American security.”

For Lopez Obrador, the Biden administration already overstepped Mexico’s sovereignty. On Thursday, Obrador criticized US involvement in supporting and financing conservative groups against his government.

According to figures disclosed by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the State Department has allocated significant resources in media groups opposed to Lopez Obrador’s administration.

In one instance, from 2018 to 2021, a major news outlet known for its anti-Obrador narrative received over $1.35 billion from the USAID.

“That is an interfering attitude, and no foreign government should intervene in the affairs of our country. Our sovereignty must be respected, we are not a colony, and we are not a protectorate. We are a free, independent, sovereign country,” Lopez Obrador said on Thursday.

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