MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday criticized U.S. military aid to Ukraine as “irrational,” intensified his criticism of the war effort and urged Washington to allocate more resources to help Latin American countries.
Lopez Obrador has long called for the United States to allocate more money to aid economic development in Central America and the Caribbean in order to ease migration pressures.
During his usual daily press conference, Lopez Obrador criticized the US Congress for not providing money to the region, before referring to last week’s controversy over a temporary funding bill that deprives Ukraine of more aid.
“I was just looking at how they can’t now be allowed to provide aid to the war in Ukraine,” he said. He added, “But how much did they allocate for the Ukraine war? Between 30 and 50 billion dollars for the war. It is the most irrational thing you can get. And it is devastating.”
“So they have to adjust their strategy and learn respect. This is not the time for them to ignore the Mexican authorities,” López Obrador added.
The Ukrainian embassy in Mexico declined to comment. The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The leftist Lopez Obrador sought to keep Mexico neutral in the war, and criticized Western military aid to Kiev. He also proposed holding peace talks to end the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
Two weeks ago, the president defended the presence of a Russian military unit in Mexico’s Independence Day weekend parade, following sharp criticism that his country gave a platform to forces that invaded Ukraine.
However, his government supported some major UN resolutions criticizing Russia’s role in the conflict.
(Reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by Deepa Babington, Jonathan Oatis and Bill Berkrot)
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