Mexico City, Feb 6 (EFE).- Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced Tuesday that he will receive a United States delegation to discuss migration at the request of US President Joe Biden.
The Mexican leader initially refused to receive the US delegation after a ProPublica article, citing sources within the Drug Enforcement istration (DEA), alleged that the Sinaloa cartel had contributed US$2 million to his 2006 election campaign.
“A delegation from the United States is coming today. President Biden wanted to talk with me. We talked over the phone, and one of the things we discussed is for me to receive the US representative, Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, Homeland Security Advisor,” said the Mexican head of state during his morning press conference.
“I didn’t want to receive them, but I made a committment to do so,” he said.
López Obrador explained that he did not want to receive the officials because of “the way the DEA acts.”
“If they are suspicious of me, how can I receive them? How will they sit with a president linked to drug trafficking? That’s what I told them, through the Secretary of Foreign Affairs (Alicia Bárcena), to the White House advisors,” he expressed.
López Obrador pointed out that he did not discuss the issue during the call with Biden, or even demanded an apology for what was published, but warned that such matters could affect the US-Mexico bilateral relationship.
He explained that the call from his US counterpart was to inform him about “negotiations on migration.”
In addition, López Obrador highlighted that the speculation surrounding his campaign’s alleged funding by the Sinaloa Cartel is because the DEA is “upset as they can no longer come and go from Mexico without asking permission.” EFE
er/dgp/ics
