Former President López Obrador accuses Trump of plotting against Mexico’s left
MEXICO CITY — Former Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador issued a scathing statement criticizing President Trump and describing what he called a conspiracy by his administration to weaken the Mexican left.
He said the US campaign against “narco-terrorism” was not a real attempt to solve a serious problem but an “excuse” to intervene in Mexican affairs.
López Obrador retired after leaving office in 2024, retreating to his sprawling ranch in the southern state of Chiapas, where he has remained largely out of the public eye. But amid a growing crisis for Morena, the left-wing political party he founded, López Obrador re-emerged Wednesday night after The Times reported that the United States was investigating two border state governors, both Morena members, for possible ties to the cartels.
“To be frank,” wrote “Some US officials plan to weaken Morena and strengthen the right-wing opposition in Mexico with the idea of having a subservient government that is once again vulnerable, subordinate and loyal to their interventionist designs,” López Obrador said.
The former president’s message comes as the U.S. military threatens to attack cartel targets on Mexican soil and the Trump administration deepens its investigations into Mexican officials suspected of ties to organized crime. The United States recently charged several prominent Morena leaders with drug trafficking, including the governor of Sinaloa state. And as the Times reported this week, two other governors under investigation also had their visas revoked.
López Obrador said the Trump administration blamed Mexico for “all its evils” and compared it to Adolf Hitler’s “propaganda tactic of repeating lies.”
López Obrador also gave full support to President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has adopted a more defiant tone in recent days, denouncing the investigations into Morena officials as a US smear campaign aimed at damaging her government.
He accused “sections of the American far right” of using Mexico ahead of midterm elections in the United States and Mexico. And so far he has refused to comply with a U.S. request to extradite Sinaloa Gov. Rubén Rocha Moya, a close ally of López Obrador who, along with other Morena officials, is accused of protecting the Sinaloa cartel.
While Trump has backed conservative candidates in Argentina, Colombia, Honduras and Ecuador, the United States has made no secret of its desire to see right-wing leaders elected in Latin America.
Still, Mexico’s insistence that U.S. investigations into Morena leaders are purely political is a risky stance. After two decades of drug war violence and instability, many Mexicans say organized crime is the country’s biggest problem. And in many parts of the country, it is a secret that criminals are colluding with elected leaders.
The accusations against Morena members are particularly damaging because López Obrador came to power promising to fight corruption and vowed that no one, including his “comrades in arms,” would be spared.
Sheinbaum arrested dozens of local officials accused of abuse of power, including some with ties to Morena. But his opponents say he needs to do much more.
In his letter, López Obrador said he had a better relationship with Trump, whom he described as a friend when he was president from 2018 to 2024. He also said Trump appeared open to “reasonable dialogue without confrontation.”
López Obrador suggested that a group of “inexperienced, embittered and fanatic advisors” with “vile and malicious” motives could be held responsible for Trump’s harsher treatment of Mexico. He advised Trump to tell these advisers to “go to hell.”
Cecilia Sánchez Vidal from the Times’ Mexico City bureau contributed to this report.
