[1/3]Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks during a news conference in which he called U.S. military spending on Ukraine “irrational” and stepped up criticism of the war effort as he called on Washington to dedicate more resources to support Latin American countries National Palace in … Acquire license rights Read more
MEXICO CITY, Oct 2 (Portal) – Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Monday cut U.S. military aid to Ukraine, claiming it was “irrational.” He intensified criticism of the war effort and called on Washington to devote more resources to aid Latin American countries.
Lopez Obrador has long called on the United States to provide more funding for economic development in Central America and the Caribbean to ease migration pressures.
During his regular daily news conference, Lopez Obrador criticized the U.S. Congress for failing to provide money for the region, before pointing to last week’s fight over an emergency funding bill that would cut further aid to Ukraine.
“I just saw that they are now not approving aid for the war in Ukraine,” he said. “But how much did they earmark for the war in Ukraine? 30 to 50 billion dollars for the war. What is the most irrational thing you can have? And harmful.”
“So they have to change their strategy and learn respect; “It is not time to ignore the Mexican authorities,” Lopez Obrador added.
Neither the U.S. State Department nor the Ukrainian embassy in Mexico immediately responded to requests for comment.
The leftist Lopez Obrador has sought to keep Mexico neutral in the war and criticized Western military aid to Kiev. He has also proposed peace talks to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Two weeks ago, the president defended the presence of a Russian military unit at a weekend parade marking Mexico’s Independence Day after sharply criticizing his country for providing a platform to forces invading Ukraine.
Still, his government has supported several key UN resolutions criticizing Russia’s role in the conflict.
Reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by Deepa Babington and Jonathan Oatis
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