Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is halting diplomatic relations with the US and Canadian embassies after their ambassadors criticized his proposal to have judges elected by popular vote.
López Obrador announced the move during his daily press conference on Tuesday, saying the “pause” is with the embassies and not the countries. He said relations will be reestablished once the diplomats are “respectful of the independence of Mexico, of the sovereignty of our country.”
López Obrador’s proposal for judicial reform is part of a package of constitutional changes he has been seeking, which have yet to been approved. On Monday, a congressional committee approved the proposal, and it now requires two-thirds approval in both chambers of Congress.
The reforms include a range of issues in areas like pensions and the energy sector, but they also include controversial judicial and institutional reforms, which critics say would weaken the separation of powers and see the disappearance of some independent regulatory agencies.
US Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar said last Thursday that he believes a “popular direct election of judges is a major risk to the functioning of Mexico’s democracy.” Salazar stressed that judicial reformneed to ensure the judiciary would be strengthened and not “subject to the corruption of politics.”
The ambassador also said the move could impact the US-Mexico trade relations. The US and Mexico are each other’s top trading partners.
Canada’s ambassador in Mexico, Graeme Clark, has warned of investor worries due to the proposed judicial reforms, and voiced concern about the “disappearance” of some autonomous bodies.
After López Obrador’s press conference on Tuesday, Salazar posted a note on X reiterating the “significant concerns” the US has over the judicial reform.
Several US lawmakers also expressed their concern on Tuesday, saying judicial reform will jeopardize “critical economic and security interests shared by our two nations” including a regional trade pact.
“We are also alarmed that several other constitutional reforms currently under discussion may contradict commitments made in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement, which is scheduled for review in 2026,” read a statement from the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee.
The constitutional reforms include eliminating several independent regulatory bodies and merging others that the government claims are duplicating functions. López Obrador is seeking to shutter the Personal Data Protection Institute (INAI). The regulator in February launched an investigation against López Obrador after he disclosed the personal phone number of a New York Times journalist.
The Mexican leader previously hit back at the criticism of his planned reforms saying that he is seeking “to establish constitutional rights and strengthen ideals and principles related to humanism, justice, honesty, austerity and democracy.”