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News > Latin America

Trump, NAFTA Take Center Stage in Mexico's 2nd Presidential Debate

  • Independent candidate Jaime Rodriguez Calderon, Ricardo Anaya, Jose Antonio Meade and Lopez Obrador pose for a photo in their second televised debate in Tijuana, Mexico in this May 20, 2018

    Independent candidate Jaime Rodriguez Calderon, Ricardo Anaya, Jose Antonio Meade and Lopez Obrador pose for a photo in their second televised debate in Tijuana, Mexico in this May 20, 2018 | Photo: Reuters

Published 21 May 2018
Opinion

Candidates evaded questions and limited to criticize themselves and Donald Trump.

Mexico's presidential candidates faced off in their second debate Sunday in the border town of Tijuana with "Mexico in the world” serving as the central theme of the discussion.

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The debate, which was organized by National Electoral Institute, represented the first attempt by the electoral authorities to organize a debate centered on citizen participation, but the sterile format of the event led to most of the 42 people selected to question the candidate being left out of the debate with only six being able to pose a question. Instead, the debate was dominated by moderators Leon Krauze and Yuriria Sierra, both journalists working for conservative media outlets.

Candidates used most of their time to attack other candidates instead of giving full answers to the citizens, who probably ended up more confused.

The debate was opened by citizen Luis Angel Amador, who asked the candidates about the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, and the internal economic policies that could be implemented in case Trump decides to revise or cancel the agreement, given the strong economic dependence Mexico has with its northern neighbors.

But instead of giving concise, clear answers, candidates focused on how to confront President Donald Trump's rather racist remarks.

“Trump will have to learn to respect us. I can assure you that,” said the center-left candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO).

“The first thing we have to do is to wean from the gringos and put them in their place,” said independent candidate Jaime Rodriguez Calderon, better known as “El Bronco,” adding that Trump's words can be poisonous.

Rodriguez, who speaks typically in anti-welfare neoliberal terms, said it was necessary to review the NAFTA and perhaps even confiscate Banamex, which used to be a national bank because he considers the terms of its sale were not fair.

Jose Antonio Meade, the candidate for the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), said that Mexico needs to diversify its exports and look for different partners around the world, and blamed AMLO's party Morena for impeding this.

Candidates reaffirmed the need to fight back Trump's lack of respect for Mexicans, to promote a better relationship with the U.S., the country's biggest economic partner, and to defend the NAFTA, which the U.S. president has pledged to revise, but didn't give full answers on how they would do that.

Speaking about the economic and social conditions of the northern border, AMLO said that the minimum wage should be doubled in the whole border strip to offer better conditions for Mexicans.

Center-left candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador during a campaign act in the state of Guerrero. May 17, 2018. Photo | EFE

Ricardo Anaya, the right-wing candidate for the National Action Party (PAN) who has been criticized for copying AMLO's proposals, said the minimum wage should be raised to 100 pesos (little more than US$5) a day, and proposed that people that earn less than US$500 a month should be exempt from income taxes. But Jaime Rodriguez “El Bronco,” making use of his controversial and neoliberal style, said that raising the minimum wage would be useless because welfare policies are useless, and suggested instead to eliminate the minimum wage figure once and for all.

In one of the tensest moments of the debate, Meade was asked if the current president's decision to invite the then-candidate Donald Trump for a meeting in Mexico City, to which he agreed, had been a mistake. Meade denied this, arguing that the invitation had been used to delay a possible cancellation of NAFTA, showing he's still committed to the party that endorsed him at the same time trying to distance himself from the current administration, one of the most unpopular in Mexico's recent history, at the same time he avoids to criticize President Peña Nieto. He has paid a high price for his position, and he keeps sinking in the opinion polls.

Border security also came into focus in the debate, as Mexico struggles to stop the flow of weapons coming from the north and drugs going the other way around.

Lopez Obrador, as he has commented before, said he rejected to fight violence with violence, and that would promote a security policy based on cooperation and conciliation policies. “Hugs, not bullets,” said AMLO.

But Jose Antonio Meade questioned AMLO's moral right to say so and accused his party of having Nestora Salgado, former chief and founder of community police accused by prosecutors of kidnapping and then released, within its lines.

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But Meade's accusations revealed that, despite not being officially affiliated to the PRI, he represents very well a continuity with a past that Mexico is running away from. Salgado was unfairly accused of kidnapping as a government's campaign to dismantle community police organizations in Guerrero and Michoacan, where these groups were born to counter drug cartels and corrupt police.

And Salgado, who is a representative candidate for Morena, firmly answered Meade.

“I publicly challenge you to prove your accusations. Enough with you and the PRI criminalizing social activists. We won't bow down!” tweeted Salgado.

El Bronco, as usual, suggested to cut off hands criminals' hands.

This is the first debate without the former independent presidential candidate Margarita Zavala, who left the presidential race earlier in May after her poll points were on free fall since the beginning of her campaign.

When you search for “Mexico's presidential debate” in Spanish using google, the first result is a paid advertisement saying that Jose Antonio Meade, third place in the opinion polls, won the debate.

The third and last debate will take place in Merida, in the Yutacan peninsula, and will have economy and development as its central theme.

Center-left candidate Lopez Obrador is leading all polls by a wide margin, followed by the right-wing Ricardo Anaya and Jose Antonio Meade. Jaime Rodriguez "El Bronco" is far behind them, with 4 points at most.

Mexicans will elect their new president on July 1st on a single-round process, along with members of both the low house and the Senate. 

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