Mexico’s López Obrador resurfaces to criticize U.S. interference: ‘Why did President Trump change so much?’

Former Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador reappeared on the public stage on Wednesday with a message in which he harshly criticized U.S. President Donald Trump’s pressure on Mexico under the guise of combating “narco-terrorism” and illegal immigration. López Obrador, who retired from politics after leaving the presidency in 2024, has given his full support to his successor Claudia Sheinbaum against Washington’s interference and its attempt, as he put it, to weaken Morena, the leftist political party and movement he founded and which the current president continues to lead.

López Obrador’s gesture comes just a few days after Sheinbaum voiced her strongest protest against Trump’s pressure and threats to Mexican sovereignty. The former president expressed surprise at the Republican’s attitude, which he says differs from the one he had during his first term in the U.S. presidency, when both politicians were serving in their countries’ executive branches. “Why has President Trump changed so much?” López Obrador asks in the statement he posted on his long-dormant X account.

Late last year, López Obrador stated that he would only emerge from his self-imposed retirement if certain conditions were met, one of which was threats to Mexico’s sovereignty. The former president has decided to return to the limelight at a time of enormous bilateral tension over security and the fight against the drug cartels. The Trump administration has leveled serious accusations of alleged ties to drug traffickers against Morena governors backed by López Obrador, as well as against his most trusted former aides.

The most explosive case involves Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha and several members of his top aides, who are accused of collaborating with Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s cartel. On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times reported that the U.S. government has revoked the visas of Tamaulipas Governor Américo Villarreal and Sonora Governor Alfonso Durazo, following the same pattern as in Rocha’s case: first the visa was revoked, then came the indictment by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Durazo’s case is even more serious, as he served as López Obrador’s Secretary of Public Security during the early years of his six-year term. Both Durazo and Villarreal have denied the allegations.

The U.S. media has said that these moves are part of a major campaign by Trump against alleged “narco-politicians” in Mexico who facilitate the operations of drug cartels. López Obrador rejects this as the real motivation, and sees instead a massive political maneuver aimed not only at the November midterm elections in the United States but also at consolidating the far right in the Americas. “To be clear: some U.S. officials are plotting to weaken Morena and strengthen the right-wing opposition in Mexico with the aim of reinstating a submissive, corrupt, mafia-like, and cruel government—and, by extension, one that is vulnerable, subordinate, and loyal to their interventionist agenda,” he wrote.

López Obrador attempts to explain Trump’s dramatic about-face and attributes it to “false friends and advisors, both domestic and foreign, who have been leading him into vile and sinister adventures.” “I hope he returns to governing as he did before, with enthusiasm, in a personal manner, not delegating what is essential, trusting his practical judgment and his sure instinct, and that he tells the leeches surrounding and goading him to go to hell,” the former president wrote. He also expressed confidence that the Republican president will backtrack: “A person like Trump cares more about history than the office, and he would not want to be remembered as being responsible for an economic and social welfare crisis that also caused his party to lose elections and, above all, for being identified as a reckless leader who fought with almost everyone, including the Pope and even his neighbors in Canada and Mexico.”

Mexico’s relationship with the U.S. during the Trump era has reached a critical juncture within a matter of weeks. Perhaps the most visible event at the start of the dispute was Sheinbaum’s criticism of Washington after it was discovered that CIA agents were conducting security operations on Mexican soil without authorization. From there, things have only escalated. López Obrador recalled that, during Trump’s first term, he personally managed to convince the U.S. president not to classify the cartels as terrorist organizations—a label that would, he says, amount to a license to commit abuses and atrocities in other countries. Ultimately, Trump did just that—designating the cartels as such—shortly after beginning his second term. López Obrador notes a final wish in his letter: “For the good of all, may the other Trump return.”

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