AMLO: If they slander me, why am I going to remain silent?
4:44
(CNN Spanish) -
The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, said during his morning press conference that the United States government "gives money" to "associations" that have questioned his management.
From Tijuana, state of Baja California, the president said that "if necessary" he will discuss the issue with President Joe Biden.
“That is an interventionist attitude, no foreign government should intervene in the affairs of our country, they must respect our sovereignty, we are not a colony, we are not a protectorate, we are a free, independent and sovereign country.
In addition, I represent a legal and legitimately constituted authority.
I was democratically elected, the people chose me,” López Obrador said.
When asked by CNN, the State Department's Agency for International Development (USAID) did not respond directly to López Obrador's comments, but a spokesperson stressed that independent media play a "crucial role in ensuring that the public is informed about the performance of the government and that it represents the will of the people".
"To that end," the agency added, "the US government supports the work of civil society organizations and independent media around the world, including in the United States, with the goal of fostering constructive dialogue between governments, citizens and businesses to address complex shared challenges.”
López Obrador made his remarks while questioning the work of various Mexican journalists and freedom of expression in the country, at a press conference where a group of reporters from Baja California read aloud the names of five journalists killed so far this year and demanded greater protection from the government.
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López Obrador affirmed that "there is a power, not legal, not legitimate, that stands as a pressure group to confront the movements of transformation or change, the movements for the benefit of the people, the movements against corruption, immediately the potentates make up a media power to attack, slander, destroy”.
The president considered that “the entire campaign against us is being financed by influencers from Mexico, who in the past sold medicines and did juicy deals, businessmen who did not pay taxes and also by the United States government, which gives them money. to these associations, such as that of Claudio X. González”.
CNN is looking to contact Gonzalez for his reaction.
In his active Twitter account, he has not referred directly to López Obrador's comments, but he reproduced or retweeted multiple messages from other network users who express sympathy for him and question the president for his criticism.
González, who at the time was the founder of the organization Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity, is part of an influential business family in Mexico and describes himself on his Twitter profile as "democratic, liberal and center-progressive". ".
During the government of Enrique Peña Nieto, from the civil association Mexicanos Primero he had a key role in promoting the educational reform that López Obrador would later begin to dismantle.
González is also credited with having participated in the articulation of the opposition alliance between the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the National Action Party (PAN) and the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD).
"Mexico remains a critical security partner," says the US.
Apart from its references to the media, in its response USAID stated that “Mexico remains a critical security partner of the United States, and we are committed to working with the López Obrador administration to advance shared priorities, including the fight against corruption and impunity”.
"The United States has an enduring partnership with Mexico based on shared responsibility and mutual respect, including respect for sovereignty," the agency added.
In recent days, López Obrador has been seen in a confrontation with a sector of the Mexican press over a report on the Latinus portal about alleged conflicts of interest regarding the rental of a house in Houston by López Obrador's eldest son and the business of an American contractor and Pemex.
The president himself, his son José Ramón López Beltrán, the owner of the house, the contracting company and the state oil company have denied any connection between the rental of the house and Pemex's business.
The Latinus report was presented as a joint project with Mexicans against Corruption and Impunity.
-Gabriela Frías contributed to this report.
Andrés Manuel López ObradorUnited StatesJoe Biden