Mexico’s Congress is moving to amend the country’s constitution to ensure the ruling party remains in power. The move comes at a time when the U.S. government has been exposing the close ties between Mexico’s ruling party, MORENA, and drug cartels while moving to arrest some of its top operators.
This week, Mexico’s congress moved to change the law to allow the government to cancel the 2030 elections if it claims there was foreign interference. The measure is hidden in obscure language and lacks specifics as to what could qualify as foreign interference, giving the government a wide range of reasons.
The issue faced strong resistance from legislators in opposing parties, who claimed it was just a way for the ruling party to stay in power. The move passed due to MORENA having majority control and is moving along the system.
The issue comes at a time of great tension between Mexico and the U.S. over a series of criminal indictments accusing top members of the MORENA party, including the governor of Sinaloa, of working with cartels in exchange for political power and money. Rather than working with the U.S. to arrest those officials, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum has publicly defended him, claiming that the U.S. has provided no evidence of wrongdoing and that the move was political. The MORENA party has a long history of accusing the U.S. government of trying to influence its rule over Mexico, using the claim of national sovereignty to avoid going after cartel politicians.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.