Former President AMLO: "The Trump of today is different from the one I dealt with"
mexicosolidarity.com
Mexico's former President has released a statement on US attacks on Mexico, only his second political statement since the end of his term, accusing US official of plotting to "weaken Morena."

Mexico’s former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador released a statement tonight, addressing deteriorating relations between the US and Mexico in the context of increased aggressive lawfare by the administration of President Donald Trump and an unauthorized operation involving four CIA agents in the northern state of Chihuahua, two of which died, reportedly in a car accident. The statement is titled, My unconditional support for President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo and a respectful reflection on President Donald Trump and appears below.

It doesn’t surprise me that in the United States government’s onslaught against Mexico, they are using their usual interventionist and unscrupulous practices, now under the pretext of combating migration and drug trafficking. It’s clear that these attacks are not motivated, as our President Sheinbaum rightly stated last Sunday, by a genuine interest in solving the serious problem that Americans are unfortunately suffering due to the prolonged drug addiction pandemic; no, it’s a matter of political and electoral importance.

To be clearer: some US officials are plotting to weaken Morena and strengthen the right-wing opposition in
Mexico with the idea of ​​once again having a subservient, corrupt, mafia-like, and cruel government—and therefore, vulnerable, subservient, and loyal to their interventionist designs. Furthermore, they are confident that they can
deceive many US citizens again with the Hitlerian propaganda tactic of repeating lies over and over, with an eye toward the upcoming November elections, in order to continue blaming Mexico for each and every one of its ills. Although, I reiterate, none of this is new, and such arrogance is always predictable, especially in times of decline.

The only thing that strikes me is the surprising change in President Donald Trump’s attitude, especially regarding Mexico. Speaking from personal experience, the Trump of today is different from the one I dealt with. In my experience, we resolved several issues, for the good of our people, through reasoned dialogue and without confrontation. We rarely had disagreements; in fact, I only recall one heated controversy, when, over immigration, he threatened to impose tariffs, which would have led us to respond in kind, but fortunately, we reached an agreement before the conflict escalated.

While I was president, he refrained from speaking ill of Mexicans and from mentioning the wall; we signed the new trade agreement; he did not place obstacles in the way of exports under sanitary, environmental, or other pretexts, as is common with tomatoes, tuna, or cattle.

I hope he will return to governing as before, with enthusiasm, personally, not delegating the essentials, trusting in his practical judgment and his unerring instincts, and that he will tell the hangers-on who surround and incite him to go to hell, whoever they may be, whether they are cronies, manipulators, petty bosses, opportunists, thieves, police officers, hacks, speculators, pirates, powerful figures, climbers, or simply evil.

He also did not increase fees for sending remittances; he accepted our proposal not to include Mexican oil in the treaty, out of respect for our energy sovereignty. He helped us during the COVID-19 pandemic; on two occasions, he offered me support from agents or special forces to combat crime and understood my disagreement. At the end of his term, relations were so good and there was so much trust in our government that, when agents of
the DEA and the Department of Justice, in revenge against the Mexican Army, fabricated a case against General Salvador Cienfuegos, Secretary of Defense during President Peña’s administration, and arrested him in the United States, I asked President Trump to allow us to review the evidence, because we doubted its authenticity. He agreed,
ordering that the case be brought in Mexico. Here, it was indeed demonstrated that it was a politically motivated reprisal designed to subjugate a fundamental institution of the Mexican State, which, according to the mentality and interests of officials in Washington and the U.S. Embassy, ​​had to align itself with them, as they had achieved with the Secretariat of the Navy during Calderón’s six-year term.

Moreover, on one occasion he asked me if it was appropriate to label drug traffickers as terrorists; I told him that such a grave error should not be made, and the next day he announced that he had taken my opinion into account and that he would not sign any legal order to that effect. I remember that I warned him what would happen, and that now, after they made him change his mind, it is unfortunately happening, not only in Mexico, but also in other parts of the world: that with the mere label of narco-terrorist or of representing a supposed threat to the security of the United States, one has a license to kidnap, hunt, and extraterritorially execute any person without evidence, trial, or sentence. It is like the “ley fuga” or “kill them on sight,” the most abominable violation of human rights.

That Donald Trump, in a public event we held at the White House, acknowledged that Mexican migrants were hardworking and contributed to the development of the United States.

That’s why I’m intrigued and wonder: Why has President Trump changed so much in just a few years? One could answer that times have changed and circumstances have shifted; that this is his last term as president and he isn’t obligated to moderate his approach since reelection isn’t at stake; or that he simply doesn’t exercise his leadership as directly as before and relies more frequently on his inexperienced, resentful, and fanatical advisors, who are hardly statesmen.

I don’t believe in the first option; that is, in a change of circumstances, because in the case of Mexico, President Sheinbaum has been efficient, responsible, prudent, and respectful. Essentially, based on her actions and her works, she has proven to be the best president Mexico has had in our time.

Nor do I believe that the new way of governing of the President of the United States has anything to do with the end of his term, because a person like Trump is more interested in history than in the office and would not like to be remembered as responsible for an economic and social welfare crisis that also caused his party to lose the election and, above all, to be identified as a reckless leader who picked fights with almost everyone, including the Pope and even with his neighbors in Canada and Mexico, our beloved country from which 40 million people originate who live, strive creatively, and work honestly in the United States and who, even while grateful for the opportunities they found in that great nation, could never forget the lesson, to paraphrase Calle 13, according to which: “He who does not love his country, does not love his mother.”

Rather, I attribute Trump’s surprising change of heart to his false friends and advisors, both domestic and foreign, who have been leading him into vile and sinister adventures. Therefore, I don’t rule out—and I hope—that President Trump will rectify his course; I hope he will return to governing as before, with enthusiasm, personally, not
delegating the essentials, trusting in his practical judgment and his unerring instincts, and that he will tell the hangers-on who surround and incite him to go to hell, whoever they may be, whether they are cronies, manipulators, petty bosses, opportunists, thieves, police officers, hacks, speculators, pirates, powerful figures, climbers, or simply evil.

For everyone’s sake, let the other Trump return.

Andrés Manuel López ObradorQuinta La Chingada, Palenque, Chiapas
June 3, 2026

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