MARCH 18 was the 85th anniversary of the petroleum expropriation by Lazaro Cardenas, the most progressive and anti-imperialist president Mexico had in the entire 20th century.

President Amlo (Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador) is a worthy successor of Cardenas, the first president since then to deserve comparison with the valiant leader who stood up to the US and British oil companies — and also brought social justice with land for the peasants, union rights for workers, recognition for indigenous communities, socialist education and a principled foreign policy including support for the Spanish republic against the fascist Franco.

Amlo, whose Fourth Transformation campaign, based on fighting corruption and promoting social justice, is being challenged by privileged elites and imperialist interests, chose this year’s anniversary for a massive popular rally in defence of sovereignty.

On March 18, hundreds of thousands of patriotic Mexicans filled the great Zocalo square and neighbouring streets for several blocks around in an impressive demonstration of unity and commitment to national independence, resource sovereignty, democracy and social justice.

The message to the US (above all to the most aggressive right-wing interventionists) was crystal clear: Mexico is an independent, free and sovereign country, not a colony or protectorate. Co-operation, yes; intervention or imposition, never.

This message is particularly relevant now. In recent weeks several US politicians have gone ballistic over Mexican drug cartels, and threatened drastic action up to and including armed intervention.

Republican members of Congress have accused Mexico of being the main source of the opioid fentanyl and allowing cartels to operate with impunity.

Also, four US citizens who crossed the border from Texas on March 3 were kidnapped and two of them were killed by a criminal gang.

On March 6 Senator Lindsey Graham said that if Mexico did not “clean up its act” he would introduce legislation to declare the cartels “terrorist organisations” and authorise the use of military force against them. Other Republicans, such as former attorney-general William Barr, echoed Graham’s threats.

President Joe Biden’s administration continues to emphasise positive co-operation with Mexico, including on law enforcement and drug control. But the media, including the Wall Street Journal and supposedly liberal papers like the New York Times and Washington Post, have been very critical of Mexico.

The anti-Mexican media narrative is not only about the drug issue: the US press has picked up the Mexican opposition’s mendacious campaign against Amlo’s electoral reforms, claiming that he is “destroying democracy” by reducing the bloated bureaucracy of National Electoral Institute, the most expensive and one of the most biased electoral commissions in the world.

Although actual hostile action against Mexico is very unlikely, anti-Mexican hysteria has provoked historic and justified “anti-gringo” resentment south of the border — and bold statements and actions from Amlo.

While expressing sympathy for US victims of crime, the Mexican president pointed out that there is no such scandal when Mexicans are killed in the US.

As for the drug trade, what about cartels and corruption in the US itself? What about consumer demand: why is there so much addiction in US society? They could learn from Mexico’s social programmes which help prevent loneliness, poverty and despair.

Anti-Mexican Republicans promote their propaganda whenever elections are coming, said Amlo, and Mexican-Americans should avoid voting for them.

Indeed, as hostile declarations continued in the US, the Mexican president sent Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard to Washington for a meeting with all 52 Mexican consuls, providing them with maps, data, audio-visual and other materials to distribute to Mexican-Americans in their districts, explaining Mexico’s efforts to combat drugs and also its demand that the US halt arms trafficking which foments violence in Mexico.

It is no accident that the furore over drugs and crime coincides with the culmination of Mexico’s reassertion of resource sovereignty.

Foreign interests (US, Canadian and Spanish in particular) have tried to demand unlimited access to energy resources, but have failed since Amlo’s remarkable success in including Mexican national control in the revised North American Free Trade Agreement with both Donald Trump and Biden.

Amlo has also overcome constant legislative and judicial obstacles thrown up by the Mexican opposition, succeeding in restoring effective public control of the energy sector, with Pemex, the national oil corporation and the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) now running the show.

The benefits in terms of public finances, economic stability, jobs and avoiding energy inflation are enormous. In addition, last year Amlo nationalised lithium, of which Mexico has large deposits in Sonora.

With his usual tactical and strategic skill, Amlo followed up the tripartite US-Mexico-Canada summit of December 2022 with formal ceremonies in Sonora in February, inaugurating the largest solar energy plant in Latin America and then issuing a formal decree to nationalise lithium.

The photovoltaic plant, providing electricity to 1.6 million inhabitants, is publicly owned and operated by the CFE and is the first stage of a much bigger scheme showing Mexico’s commitment to clean energy.

The lithium decree confirmed what had already been passed as legislation by the Mexican Congress, and paves the way for the country to produce its lithium batteries.

Then on February 28, Amlo confirmed that he had reached an agreement with Elon Musk to establish a Tesla electric vehicle plant in Monterrey, north-east Mexico, using Mexican batteries.

The plant involves no tax or other concessions which are forbidden under financial regulations established by Amlo’s government, and it confirms Mexico’s desire for economic collaboration based on equality and respect.

With such actions Amlo demonstrates that sovereignty and social justice are not incompatible with good relations; as in the time of Cardenas and Franklin Delano Roosevelt (along with Abraham Lincoln, the only historic US president Amlo refers to in positive terms), the two neighbours can maintain good relations.

David Raby is a retired academic and independent researcher on Latin America. He can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @DLRaby.