The Campaign to Smear AMLO as a Narco

[Judi Lynn]

By Kurt Hackbarth
March 26, 2024 Z Article
10 Mins Read
Source: Jacobin




Image by ProtoplasmaKid, Creative Commons 3.0

Mexico is headed for the largest election in its history. On June 2, 2024, the presidency, both houses of Congress, nine governorships, thirty-one state legislatures, and thousands of local offices will all be contested. One name that will not be anywhere on the ballot, however, is that of Mexico’s most famous politician: current president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), who is limited by the constitution to a single, six-year term.

This has not made him any less of a target for attacks. As the election season heats up, AMLO continues to be a lightning rod for another campaign, one attempting to link him and the party he founded, Morena, with the drug cartels.

Accusation #1: There will be an alliance between Morena and organized crime in Mexico’s 2024 elections

On January 18, the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University published its Mexico Country Outlook 2024. The “nonpartisan” institute, a hub of multinational energy interests financed by Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, British Petroleum, the Koch Foundation, the Mexican Business Council, and Kimberly-Clark de México (headed by opposition figure Claudio X. González Laporte), plays an important role in the cross-border media ecosystem as a purveyor of “nonpartisan analysis” and “data-driven research” that can then be lapped up by corporate outlets in need of an expert interview or report to cite.

In its Mexico Country Outlook, the institute did not disappoint its donors. In the midst of its standard laundering of right-wing talking points, it included the following juicy nugget: “Criminal organizations may even become an important electoral ally of MORENA in the June 2024 elections.” Later on, it doubles down more directly:

Despite US pressure, the [Andrés Manuel] López Obrador administration simply will not confront organized crime . . . which directly affect American interests. This is largely because the president’s party, MORENA, expects organized crime to operate in its favor during the 2024 elections.

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