MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s electoral tsar has delivered a message to the US ambassador: The Mexican president was launching an overall attack on the national electoral authority, casting doubt on a pillar of the country’s democracy.
But instead of sounding the alarm, America’s top diplomat in Mexico took up one of the president’s lines of attack and entertained allegations that an election had been stolen from the Mexican leader long in the past, in 2006.
Ambassador Ken Salazar said in an interview that he was not convinced the election was clean, challenging the United States’ position at a time when democracy is threatened at home and around the hemisphere.
Mr. Salazar, who invited the election overseer to his home, told The New York Times he wanted to know, “Was there fraud?”
The case has long been settled – for Mexico’s legal system, the European Union and the US government – until now.
This ambassador’s willingness to question the legitimacy of the election is the latest example of what several U.S. officials say is a worrying pattern, in which America’s top diplomat in Mexico apparently contradicts his own government’s policy in the interest of aligning him. with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
When he accepted the post in September 2021, Mr. Salazar said to prioritize a strong relationship with Mr. To build López Obrador in the hope that it would advance the White House’s agenda.
As the primary buffer between the United States and record high flow of migrants, Mr. López Obrador enormous leverage over mr. Biden and his presidency.
Maintaining Mexico’s cooperation, administration officials said, means avoiding conflict with a mercurial Mexican leader who has the power to kill Mr. Biden’s political future by refusing to keep the line on migration.
Mr. Salazar actually managed to get close to the Mexican president.
But there is growing concern within the administration that the ambassador actually jeopardized US interests in the process – and did not use the relationship to policy victories when Mr. Praying it is most necessary, according to interviews with more than a dozen current and former officials and analysts.
The ambassador recovered denied claims of a stolen election used by the Mexican president to instill distrust in the country’s democracy; questions the integrity of a US-funded anti-corruption non-profit organization that has risen up against the president; caused a political storm by apparently showing support for an energy reform opposed by the US government; and remained silent while Mr. López Obrador relentlessly attacks journalists.
In strategically important countries ruled by fickle leaders, U.S. ambassadors often have to draw a fine line between cultivating a bond with the president and advancing their own government’s priorities.
Mr. Salazar insists that his “direct relationship” with Mr. López Obrador favors the United States.
Yet, within the U.S. government, some question whether the administration’s soft approach really works – or simply Mr. López encouraged Obrador while challenging American influence and undermining democratic precautions, according to senior U.S. officials who were not authorized to speak in public.
The Mexican leader has pursued an energy agenda that threatens U.S. companies and regularly uses his bullying pulpit to discredit and personally insult those who question his government.
The economy is cratering, violence continues to rage and now Mexico – not Central America – has become the largest source of migrants arriving at the US border.
Even after the ambassador’s charm offensive, the Mexican president led several leaders in the boycott of a major summit hosted by the administration in June, which Mr. Praying on a global stage embarrasses.
“The ambassador believes he is close to AMLO,” said Duncan Wood, vice president of strategy at the Wilson Center, nicknamed the Mexican leader. “Is there anything to show for it? I can not find anything. “
The Biden administration, Mr. Wood said, “is played by AMLO.”
From the beginning of his term of office, Mr. Biden had a strained relationship with the Mexican president, who initially refused to acknowledge his election victory.
President Donald J. Trump, when he was in office, said Mr. López forced Obrador to pursue his hard-line immigration policy under the threat of tariffs, and in return he left the Mexican leader alone to pursue his domestic agenda.
The Biden administration is just as dependent on Mexico for enforcing migration, and Mr. López Obrador’s government has devoted considerable resources to that effort and arrested a record number of migrants last year.
At the same time, Mr. However, Biden promises to pursue a broader agenda in the region, including the defense of human rights and democracy – without the harsh tactics of his predecessor.
Mr. Salazar was seen as the perfect man to soften the Mexican president. Officials accepted that the former Democratic senator’s manner would work well with Mr. López Obrador’s man-of-man personality.
“What we need to do is address these huge, unprecedented problems together,” he said. Salazar said. “And you can not do that if you have an enemy.”
Mr. Salazar meets with Mexico’s leader on a regular basis and ensures significant access to the country’s top power broker.
While Mr. López Obrador pursued energy reforms, the ambassador arranged meetings between the Mexican leader and US companies affected. Mr. Salazar told Reuters that the US government was making progress in resolving disputes affecting more than $ 30 billion of US investment in Mexico’s energy sector.
In public, the Biden administration stands with Mr. Salazar.
“Some of the criticism leveled against him is because he is so actively involved in this government, but honestly, he is doing it to try to advance American interests,” said Juan Gonzalez, Mr. Biden’s top adviser on Latin America, said.
What mr. López Obrador’s allegation that the 2006 election was stolen from him, said Mr. Gonzalez confirmed in an interview that the US position on the matter “has not changed”, despite the ambassador’s skepticism.
“We recognize the outcome of the election results,” he said. Gonzalez said. “The USA is on record.”
Mr. However, Salazar told The New York Times that he was “not aware of the US government’s line,” and that he still doubts: “I was told by many people who watched the poll that night, including people who did not have an ax. not to grind, which is very credible people, that there was fraud. ”
It is episodes like these that are causing concern among US officials who say the ambassador may have gone too far. At times, he has caused confusion about the U.S. position on some of the most sensitive policy issues.
Weeks after Jennifer Granholm, the US Secretary of Energy, flew to Mexico to express concern about the energy changes, it seemed that Mr. Salazar contradicted her message and told Mexican journalists that “the president is right” to pursue changes to the law.
The remark, which according to Mr. Salazar was ripped out of context, was by mr. López Obrador drafted to indicate the ambassador’s support for legislation that would boost Mexico’s state-owned electric utilities and jeopardize billions in US investments.
In March, the Mexican president invited the ambassador to join him at his daily news conference, where he takes the stage to hold government talks and attack anyone he sees as an adversary – including the US government.
Mr. Salazar wanted to attend, he told The Times, but his staff urged him to reconsider, arguing that to join Mr. To stand López Obrador during one of his tirades would be risky for the Biden administration.
Eventually, the potential discomfort was avoided by what the ambassador said was a “scheduling conflict”.
Earlier this year, one prominent civic leader told Mr. Salazar wrote to seek support against Mr. López Obrador’s attacks on advocacy groups. The leader, María Amparo Casar, then went to Mr. Salazar’s home summoned.
Me. Casar’s non-profit organization, Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity, is investigating and is a regular target of Mr. López Obrador’s contempt.
The president also attacked the U.S. government for funding the group, which was co-founded by a businessman who left the organization to form an opposition movement.
A senior Biden administration officer has already told Mr. Salazar said the administration would not pull funding for the organization, said two U.S. officials who are not authorized to speak in public.
But in the run-up to the meeting, he told his staff he had become suspicious of the group and wanted to investigate it.
The ambassador told The Times he believed the group’s founder’s opposition activism had “created the appearance of improperness” and said he would “advocate for funding to be cut” if he found allegations of political activity credible.
At the meeting, Mr. Salazar for me. Casar grilled and questioned whether her group was secretly involved in politics. Ms Casar, shocked, said no, explaining that U.S. government auditors had repeatedly stated that the group was not involved in politics.
“Why do I have to believe you?” asked the ambassador then, according to two people familiar with the meeting who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation.
“The only proof I have is my word,” she said. Casar replied. The ambassador told her that “it does not smell good,” before he suddenly stood up and cut the meeting short.
Mr. Salazar told The Times he has every right to raise “legal and ethical” issues with a recipient of U.S. funding, adding, “Someone can tell you a lot of things that just aren’t true.”
Mr. Gonzalez told The Times that the U.S. government will continue to harass Ms. To fund Casar’s group. “US policy is clear on this,” he said.
All the political capital the ambassador tried to build with Mexico’s president was not enough to stop him from making a humiliating reprimand to Mr. Bid not to deliver.
In the run-up to an important regional summit hosted by the administration in June, the Mexican president repeatedly slammed the United States for not inviting Cuba, Nicaragua or Venezuela.
Mr. Salazar pleaded with him to attend, a U.S. embassy official said, requesting anonymity to avoid retaliation. López Obrador continued to threaten to boycott the event, and a wave of countries followed suit.
In a final attempt at diplomacy, the ambassador paid a visit to Mexico’s most important religious site, a shrine to the Virgin of Guadalupe, a day before the summit.
“I pray at the Basilica for the patronage of the Americas to lift up our leaders to usher in a new transformative era for the Americas and the US-Mexico relationship,” Mr. Salazar posted on Twitter.
Mr. López Obrador officially dropped out of the event the next day.