World

Trump takes center stage in Mexican presidential debate

May 21, 2018
From left to right: Independent candidate Jaime Rodriguez Calderon, Ricardo Anaya of the National Action Party (PAN), Jose Antonio Meade of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) pose for a photo in their second televised debate in Tijuana, Mexico, on Sunday. — Reuters
From left to right: Independent candidate Jaime Rodriguez Calderon, Ricardo Anaya of the National Action Party (PAN), Jose Antonio Meade of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) pose for a photo in their second televised debate in Tijuana, Mexico, on Sunday. — Reuters

TIJUANA, Mexico — US President Donald Trump served as a punching bag in a late Sunday debate among the four leading contenders in Mexico’s July 1 presidential election.

Leftist front-runner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, from the MORENA party, faced off against his three rivals in a debate set in the far northern border city of Tijuana that focused on international affairs.

As expected, the candidates took shots at Trump, whose often incendiary anti-immigrant rhetoric and vows to build a wall on the southern US border have riled up the Mexican electorate.

Lopez Obrador, who surveys show is 20 points ahead of his nearest rival — center-right coalition candidate Ricardo Anaya — said that if elected he would seek “a friendly” relationship with Trump, “but he will have to respect us.”

Anaya attacked President Enrique Pena Nieto’s decision to invite Trump to Mexico City during the 2016 presidential campaign, which helped boost the real estate magnate’s foreign policy credibility.

All four candidates — including Jose Antonio Meade, third in the polls, with the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and independent Jaime Rodriguez Calderon — agreed that Mexico should help Central Americans crossing the country on the way to the US border.

The next Mexican presidential debate is scheduled for June 12.

In his third tilt at the top job, Lopez Obrador has capitalized on widespread disenchantment with the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) over corruption, rising levels of violence and sluggish economic growth.

The PRI candidate, former finance minister Jose Antonio Meade, has struggled to make an impact, and again found himself defending the unpopular government of President Enrique Pena Nieto.

Lopez Obrador came close to winning the presidency in 2006 and was runner-up again six years later.

This time around, Lopez Obrador has cut a more relaxed figure on the campaign trail, largely avoiding the kind of outbursts that in the past helped adversaries depict him as a threat to the stability in Latin America’s No. 2 economy.

Despite softening his tone, Lopez Obrador has butted heads with Mexico’s business community, calling several tycoons influence traffickers who benefit from corruption.

Lopez Obrador has already caused concerns with threats to walk back the liberalization of the country’s oil and gas business and to scrap a new $13 billion Mexico City airport. — Agencies


May 21, 2018
62 views
HIGHLIGHTS
World
3 hours ago

Trump’s Bible endorsement raises concern in Christian religious circles

World
3 hours ago

Colombia expels Argentine diplomats after Milei calls Petro ‘terrorist murderer’ 

World
3 hours ago

Bus carrying Easter worshippers falls off cliff killing 45 people in South Africa