Mexican Politician Calls for Suit Against U.S. at the UN

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Leftist political opposition leader and former Mexican presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador (shown) has called for his government to sue the Trump administration at the United Nations because of the wall the U.S. president plans to build along the border with Mexico to keep out illegal aliens.

“I respectfully suggest that the government of Mexico presents a lawsuit at the United Nations against the U.S. government for violation of human rights and racial discrimination,” Lopez Obrador told a crowd of supporters north of Mexico City on January 26.

López Obrador made his remarks the same day that Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto announced in a tweet that he was calling off a planned meeting with Trump because of a difference the two had concerning who would pay for Trump’s proposed border wall. Peña Nieto’s tweet came about three hours after Trump said the meeting between the two should be called off if Mexico isn’t prepared to pay for the wall.

Trump and Peña Nieto spoke on the phone on January 27, and both presidential offices released readouts of the call, stating that the two leaders spoke about the importance of their relationship and issues — including stemming the sale of illegal drugs and arms — that they could work on together. But the respective statements differed on one key point: a promise, per the Mexican side, to not speak publicly about who would pay for the wall.

“With regard to the payment of the border wall, both presidents acknowledged their clear and very public differences in position on this sensitive issue,” CNN said, quoting the Mexican statement. “The presidents also agreed at this point not to speak publicly about this controversial issue.”

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Peña Nieto will not be eligible to run for reelection in Mexico’s 2018 presidential election because the country’s constitution prohibits another term, but López Obrador is considered to be the early leading contender in the contest. He has stood by Peña Nieto’s opposition to paying for the border wall, but in some respects is often compared to Trump.

“[López Obrador] is a populist, nationalist, anti-globalization, anti-NAFTA candidate, not unlike Trump himself. Regardless of his economic or other leanings (which veer toward leftist populism), the two personalities would make bilateral compromises all the harder,” said Shannon O’Neil, author of Two Nations Indivisible: Mexico, the United States and the Road Ahead.

If O’Neil’s description of López Obrador’s views as veering toward “leftist populism” is at all accurate, he might better be compared with Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) than Trump.

López Obrador was the leader of Mexico’s Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) from 1996-1999. The PRD is a member of the Broad Progressive Front alliance (a coalition of leftist political parties in Mexico) and one of two Mexican parties that are full members of the Socialist International, the other one being the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

However, in 2012, López Obrador founded a cross-party organization called MORENA to support his candidacy in that year’s presidential election. (MORENA is a Spanish acronym for Movimiento Regeneración Nacional, the National Regeneration Movement.) After his failed run for the presidency, López Obrador left the PRD and MORENA was transformed from an unofficial “movement” into a political party, being formally registered as such in 2014.

A puff piece about MORENA published by People’s World on December 4, 2015 stated:

Morena aims to become a people’s movement, not just a political party. It aims to transform the nation’s priorities to meet the needs of its people and to put an end to corruption and special privileges. The party’s structure and Congress were meant to embody those goals.

Over 1,900 Morena delegates gathered at its second congress with an equal number of men and women in attendance. A total change in leadership took place, as is supposed to happen every three years. No one can be reelected to the same post they had previously held in the party. They elected Andres Manuel [López Obrador] (or AMLO, as he is referred to endearingly) unanimously to the office of party president.

As for the objectivity of People’s World, a note on the paper’s website make things perfectly clear: “The websites enjoy a special relationship with the Communist Party USA, founded in 1919, and publish its news and views.”

A February 6 article from NBC News cited a recent poll indicating that López Obrador would win the presidency if the election were held today. This up-and-coming leftist politician’s eagerness to have the Mexican government present a lawsuit at the UN against the U.S. government for “violation of human rights and racial discrimination,” indicates that he views the UN as a place that would be hospitable to his views. And if his leadership of a party that is a member of the Socialist International is any indication, there is good reason why López Obrador’s message should find sympathetic ears at the UN.

In a 2010 article, “The Grasp of Socialist International,” we provided evidence that the Socialist International (SI) is firmly entrenched at the UN and intends to use the framework of the world body to accomplish its objective of establishing a world government. We noted:

At its 1962 Congress in Oslo, Norway, the Socialist International plainly declared: “The ultimate objective of the parties of the Socialist International is nothing less than world government…. Membership of the United Nations must be made universal.”

The SI has never wavered from that goal, though it has softened its rhetoric, adopting the mushier, less threatening term “global governance” to replace its earlier appeals to “world government.” This is important to keep in mind, since current and former Prime Ministers and Presidents who are members of the SI comprise a large and influential contingent of world leaders who figure prominently at global and regional summits. Currently, the Socialist International boasts 170 political parties and organizations worldwide, including many that are currently in power running national governments.

With the SI wielding so much influence at the UN, this provides but one more reason for the United States to terminate UN membership. A recent article posted by The New American reported on a bill introduced in the new Congress that would do exactly that. The article noted, “if approved, H.R.193, better known as the ‘American Sovereignty Restoration Act,’ would end U.S. participation in and funding of the widely ridiculed ‘dictators club’ while protecting American sovereignty under the Constitution. Support for the effort is spreading like wildfire.”

Though similar bills have been introduced in the House of Representatives in past years, many times by former Representative Ron Paul (R-Texas), many analysts and lawmakers feel the American Sovereignty Restoration Act “stands its best ever chance of becoming law this session — especially under the anti-globalist, anti-establishment Trump administration and a Congress that remains incensed at a recent anti-Israel UN Security Council resolution targeting Jews in East Jerusalem and other areas.”

While on the campaign trail, Trump was highly critical of the UN, saying it was “not a friend of freedom” or the United States.

The bill to get the United States out of the United Nations is appropriately called the American Sovereignty Restoration Act. One of the hallmarks of any sovereign nation is the right to control its own borders. It is not surprising, therefore, that a Mexican politician with ties to the Socialist International would advocate taking a case against the United States’ defense of its borders to the UN — which also has a strong connection to the SI.