Son of AMLO has U.S. Visa Revoked; Writes Angry Public Letter to Trump

Andres Manuel Lopez Beltran, son of previous Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (2018-2024) has had his visa revoked by the U.S. government.

Andres Manuel Lopez Beltran is referred to as “Andy”.

From The New York Times: “One of the most prominent figures in Mexican politics, a former president’s son, says that the United States has revoked his visa, inflaming tensions between the Trump administration and Mexico’s governing party. On Thursday night [August 13th], the politician, Andrés Manuel López Beltrán, released an angry, three-page letter to President Trump asking him if he knew about the decision to revoke his visa.”

More on the letter later, it’s interesting.

Back to the New York Times: “The State Department has increasingly revoked visas of officials in Latin America, including some whom U.S. officials have later accused of corruption. Mr. López Beltrán has been accused of corruption by his political opponents, but he has denied the allegations and the authorities have never made formal accusations against him.”

In her August 14th press conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum discussed US visa cancellations: “They are not applied consistently across all countries, as they would be if the intent were truly related to crime. This is clearly an act of interference in Mexican politics; I see no other reason.”

It’s true that the Trump administration has revoked a lot of visas. From the New York Times: “The State Department said on Monday [August 10th] that under the Trump administration it had revoked more than 175,000 visas granted to foreign citizens. It said it had rescinded most over criminal accusations, including for drugs, assault and fraud. Yet many visa cancellations have also had a political backdrop. The State Department has said it had revoked visas of people who participated in pro-Palestinian protests or who celebrated the assassination of the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, for instance. The U.S. government has also revoked visas to target foreign leaders, ambassadors and other officials, as well as judges and journalists — while reinstating visas for some like-minded allies. The State Department has explicitly said it was using the threat of canceling visas as part of its strategy to exert more control over Latin America.“

What about the cancellations of visas issued to Mexicans?

“The State Department has canceled the visas of Mexican governors, federal and state legislators, and mayors in states along the northern border. Because of the confidentiality of visa records, the State Department rarely discusses details. But of the known cases in Mexico, a majority of those with visa restrictions are members of Morena. [MORENA is the ruling party]. Several of those affected have said publicly that their visa restrictions stem from administrative issues, not direct accusations against them. In the past, the U.S. government had pulled the visas of former Mexican governors, but only after they had left office. Those measures usually followed — or preceded — sanctions for cartel corruption or federal indictments for racketeering and money laundering.”

OK, but remember that no non-American citizen has the right to enter or reside in the United States. It is a privilege granted by the U.S.A. (Just as any other nation, incluing Mexico, has the right to manage its own immigration.)

In recent years, however, the idea that everybody in the world has a right to enter the U.S.A. has become popular.

That idea is very strong in Mexico. Many well-off Mexicans believe they have a right to a U.S. visa.

As for Lopez Beltran’s public letter to Trump, you’d think he might be more conciliatory in hopes of convincing the U.S. to restore his visa.

But instead of working behind the scenes and trying to get his visa restored, Lopez Beltran move quickly to make a public case out of it, maybe for political reasons.

Here are some excerpts of the letter from Lopez Beltran to President Trump

“It is evident that this is a political decision, or rather, demagogic or propagandistic, of Hitlerian style, as there is no reason that justifies this action.”

“Hitlerian style”? What does Hitler have to do with this?

Later in the letter Lopez Beltran says that the U.S. is in such a terrible situation that he’s glad he’s not going there. Well, then what’s the problem?

“Of course, Mr. President, it’s not a problem for me to not visit the United States in these decadent and lamentable times of hatred, racism, drug addiction, family disintegration, social discontent and sadness and I can hope that things will change and there will be favorable circumstances as when Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt governed, those giants of liberty who treated Mexico and its people with authentic friendship and respect for its sovereignty.”

Lopez Beltran asks Trump is he knows what’s going on with his visa. If Trump didn’t know what’s going on, and it’s only “a sick conservative phobia against the MORENA party and its leaders, in that case, “why not fire Rubio and [Deputy Secretary of State Christopher] Landau”.

Interestingly, when Lopez Beltran’s father Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was President of Mexico at the same time Trump was U.S. President (2018-2021) the two got along famously. In the letter, Lopez Beltran quotes his father as saying that the Trump of today is “apathetic and different” than he was then.