FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

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Haitian Diplomat Sees López Obrador’s Election in Mexico as ‘Paradigm Shift’

Sept. 2, 2018—Mexican President-elect Manuel Andrés López Obrador, or AMLO as he is known, met on Aug. 29 with 22 ambassadors from the Regional Group of Latin America and the Caribbean, or GRULAC, in what was described as a warm and “fraternal” gathering “among family and neighbors.”

Speaking on behalf of the group, Haitian Ambassador Guy Lamothe described AMLO’s historic election as a “paradigm shift of great importance,” which offers hope for a closer future relationship between Mexico and GRULAC to solve the pressing problems they all face. He highlighted the need for an “orderly” migration process. Mexico can become a “beacon of cooperation” for the whole region, he predicted, inspiring optimism that such cooperation will “promote and build our America” and create “an international order...for all and among all.”

Ambassador Lamothe’s statements, and subsequent remarks by AMLO and his Foreign Minister-designate Marcelo Ebrard, point to the issues of regional economic development and migration which López Obrador has already raised with President Donald Trump, and which the Schiller Institute is addressing in its proposed North American Belt and Road Initiative (NABRI), to include China, the U.S., Mexico and other Central and South American nations.

For Mexico, Lamothe said, migration is an important issue because it is “an importer and exporter of migrants.” In a press conference after the meeting, the ambassador addressed the

“lack of economic resources ... migration occurs because people seek greater opportunities in their lives. How to resolve this? The issue is to offer more investments in those countries”

whose citizens are fleeing. Wealthier countries can, in a framework of cooperation, address the “lack of economic resources” by increasing foreign direct investment to help create jobs, he said. If they are employed, “migrants won’t feel the need to leave their own countries.”