MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mexican President against invasions, censorship, and black lists

“It is forbidden to prohibit,” López Obrador said

As a country that has been invaded in the past, by the United States in 1914, “we cannot accept” any more invasions, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) said Wednesday.

“Nor from Russia to Ukraine or from China to another country nor from the United States to any other country,” said the Mexican leader. “No to invasions! Yes to respect to sovereignty and to the independence of the peoples,” he added.

López Obrador also denied having been in touch with either Vladimir Putin or Volodymir Zelensky in the past few days.

He also ruled out the possibility of Mexico imposing economic sanctions against Russia, unlike most western powers. “We are not going to take any economic retaliation because we want to maintain good relations with all the governments of the world and we want to be in a position to be able to talk to the parties in conflict,” AMLO explained.

He added that the best way to help was through the “promotion of dialogue” and not “falling into [a] protagonism ... which has nothing to do with the moderation that should prevail in foreign policy.”

Earlier Wednesday, AMLO had breakfast with former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva. The meeting lasted nearly four hours, after which Lula left without speaking to reporters. The Mexican President, on the other hand, described the encounter as a “fraternal meeting.”

“We are united by the brotherhood of our peoples and the fight for equality and justice,” AMLO said on Twitter.

Also Wednesday, López Obrador rejected the idea of users being labeled on social media, depending on whether they relayed information stemming from Russian news outlets, which has been rumored to be happening.

”That's why yesterday I spoke out against censorship, against all this that they are trying to do on social media. I don't know if it's true that if someone gives an opinion in favor of Ukraine or in favor of Russia or in favor of... they put a black mark on them,“ AMLO stressed in his usual morning press conference.

”That is fascism. That is contrary to freedoms. That's having blacklists,“ the Mexican head of state underlined. ”It is forbidden to prohibit,” López Obrador added.