News Americas, WASHINGTON, D.C., Tues. July 3, 2018: Mexico’s new president-elect, Manuel Lopez Obrador, on Monday vowed to pursue cordial relations with the Donald Trump administration.
His comments come after a phone call with Trump Monday and as the US and Mexico remains at odds over immigration and trade.
While Lopez Obrador has railed against what he called Trump’s arrogant, racist and inhumane family separation policy and has lambasted the “erratic” US president’s “hate campaign” against Latin American migrants on the campaign trail, on Monday he struck a more diplomatic tone, promising to “reach an understanding” with his northern counterpart in a half-hour conversation.
Just hours after his historic election victory sent thousands of supporters pouring on to the streets, the 64-year-old leftist that he had received a call from Trump.
“I proposed that we explore an integral agreement of development projects, which generate jobs in Mexico and with that reduce migration and improve security,” he said of the call. “There was respectful treatment and our representatives will speak more.”
Trump had tweeted Sunday after Lopez Obrador’s win: “I look very much forward to working with him. There is much to be done that will benefit both the United States and Mexico!”
In an interview with Televisa, Lopez Obrador, a leftist, called Trump’s tweet “very respectful,” adding: “That is what we always want to maintain with the U.S. government, that there be mutual respect.”
“We are never going to disrespect the U.S. government, because we want them to respect us,” Lopez Obrador added. “At the appropriate moment, we are going to get in touch, to reach an understanding” with the Trump administration.
Lopez Obrador was declared the president-elect Sunday after winning over 50 percent of the votes, according to data from the country’s electoral body.
The results of the election were historic for his left leaning party as they had never before received such a majority.
He vowed that he would expend an all-out effort to serve his nation and people.
“I will not disappoint you. I will not betray the people. I uphold ideals and principles that I consider the most important in my life,” he said in his victory speech. “But I also confess that I have a legitimate ambition, I want to go down in history as a good president for Mexico. Thank you very much with all my heart! Hurray Mexico! Viva Mexico! Viva Mexico.”
According to a sample of some 7,700 voting records from the National Electoral Institute (INE), Lopez Obrador obtained between 53 and 53.8 percent of the votes.
Meanwhile, the candidate from the conservative National Action Party (PAN), Ricardo Anaya, only obtained between 22.1 and 22.8 percent of the votes; the candidate of the ruling Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), Jose Antonio Meade, reaped between 15.7 and 16.3 percent of the votes and the independent Jaime Rodriguez Calderon, “El Bronco”, received between 5.3 and 5.5 percent of the votes. (CCTV Contributed to this story.)
