Biden must help protect democracy at home — and next door | Editorial

Claudia Sheinbaum, a physicist and climate scientist, was elected president of Mexico last week in a landslide victory, becoming that country’s first female president. The moment was historic, and rightly celebrated as such, but what too many in the U.S. ignored — including some on the left who saw it as a progressive dream come true — is that Sheinbaum’s win may continue Mexico’s democratic backslide.

Even as America deals with its own challenges, it must press and support its southern neighbor to stand up for democracy.

After all, Mexico is an important ally and key economic partner for the U.S. In 2023, Mexico ranked first in U.S. trade relationships, with almost $800 billion in exports and imports between the two countries. Nearly five million U.S. jobs depend on that partnership. In Pennsylvania, yearly trade with Mexico — around $11 billion worth — helps support about 194,000 positions, while Mexican companies generate more than 16,500 jobs.

The two nations also share challenges — including immigration, public safety, and climate change — along with deep cultural ties. Almost 40 million Latinos of Mexican origin live in the U.S., and more than 1.5 million Americans live in Mexico.

» READ MORE: For 200 years, Philadelphia has been an important part of the relationship between the U.S. and Mexico | Opinion

At the heart of concern for that country’s future is current President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, commonly referred to by his initials as AMLO. Cut from the same populist cloth as Donald Trump, and supported by a similarly enabling cult of personality, López Obrador has insulted, bullied, and threatened to bulldoze democratic institutions — including the free press, the courts, and the National Electoral Institute, which is charged with ensuring free and fair elections.

Meanwhile, his “hugs, not bullets” strategy to combat crime has only emboldened drug cartels and further entrenched their control, with more than 170,000 killings reported since he took office in 2018, many of them gang-related.

During his time in office (Mexican presidents are limited to one six-year term), many of López Obrador’s policies have belied his rhetoric. As a candidate, he focused on environmental protection, a demilitarized approach to public safety, and leaned on his anti-establishment bona fides. In office, he has doubled down on investments in fossil fuels and increased deforestation, has expanded the use of military forces into civilian tasks, and has sought to limit checks and balances while centralizing power in the executive branch.

If you’re wondering why you may have heard little about the burgeoning autocrat next door, it’s because the U.S. government has been conspicuously silent in expressing public criticism. This extends to slow-walking disputes regarding violations of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement regarding the energy industry and agricultural exports.

The reason behind the government’s reluctance, of course, is politics. More precisely, the election-year politics of immigration. The Biden administration, in a continuation of similar policies under Trump, has effectively outsourced much of border enforcement to Mexico, making López Obrador’s cooperation essential and U.S. discretion preferred.

This complicity may backfire.

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If Sheinbaum continues down the road paved by López Obrador, the man she has called her mentor, there is a risk that growing violence, drought-spurred water shortages, and anemic economic growth will likely push more Mexicans to emigrate, adding to already skyrocketing numbers of people crowded at the U.S. border.

Fortunately, there is optimism that the president-elect — granddaughter of Jewish refugees, daughter of activist parents, and part of the U.N. climate group that won a 2007 Nobel Peace Prize — will be a different kind of leader. Already, she has expressed differences on climate change and transitioning to clean energy, and Sheinbaum lacks López Obrador’s penchant for demagoguery.

Yet, some experts believe the biggest danger to Mexican democracy will not come after Sheinbaum’s Oct. 1 inauguration, but in the month prior. A quirk of Mexican politics means the new Mexican Congress will be sworn in on Sept. 1. With the gains made by López Obrador’s party in the recent election, he could make a final push for a series of constitutional amendments that give the executive more power, changes the legislative branch has so far rebuffed.

President Joe Biden has made protecting democracy a central tenet of his presidential campaign. He should stand on principle and challenge López Obrador and Sheinbaum to do the same.