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Mexican Governor Warns Trump's 'Wall Talk' Will Lead to Far Left President of Mexico

Mexican Governor Warns Trump's 'Wall Talk' Will Lead to Far Left President of Mexico

 Gov. Graco Ramirez of the Mexican state of Morelos, interpretor David Sperling, and Newmax's John Gizzi talk during a break Saturday at the National Governors Association in Washington D.C.  (Courtesy Mr. Saul Anuzis)

John Gizzi By Sunday, 26 February 2017 02:09 PM EST Current | Bio | Archive


The head of the National Conference of Governors of Mexico spelled out to Newsmax Saturday how he was trying to mobilize opposition among U.S. politicians to President Trump’s wall along the border of the two countries.

Governor Graco Ramírez of the Mexican state of Morelos, also warned that Trump’s hardline rhetoric about the wall and illegal immigrants in general could enable the election of leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador as president of Mexico in 2018.

Often likened to the late Marxist Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez whose rhetoric appealed to the poor, the former Mexico City mayor known as "AMLO" was characterized by Ramirez as "very much like Trump."

"They are both nationalists and they both want war [between the US and Mexico], not peace," he said without hesitation.

Most polls show López Obrador the front-runner in next year’s election over Margarita Zavala, a former congresswoman of the PAN (center-right party) and wife of former President Felipe Calderón.

Ramírez, a member of the left-of-center Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), nevertheless said he considered the conservative Zavala "respectable" but predicted there would be other candidates coming into the race to succeed termed-out President Enrique Peña Nieto.

As head of the association representing Mexico’s 31 federated states, Ramirez was in Washington to meet with American governors attending the annual meeting of the National Governors Association.

"Trump won’t be able to proceed on this plan to build a wall because he won’t be able to unite every Republican Member of Congress behind it," he told us, noting that several GOP lawmakers from Texas are already voicing opposition to the wall.


"They are not in agreement with this decision [to build the wall] because they know it will cause harm," Ramirez added, pointing out that "80 percent of the Texas economic activity comes from Mexico and that one out of every 25 new companies created in the U.S. "is owned by a Mexican entrepreneur."

He cited Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval as another Republican with whom he has spoken who opposes the wall. (When Newsmax caught up with Sandoval later on Saturday, he told us building a wall was "not a priority" and he preferred "more investment in technology" to keep illegal immigrants out of the U.S).


Of the recent U.S. deportations of suspected criminals to Mexico, Ramírez pledged that his country "would legally defend them through our 50 consular offices and help them through our 26 safe homes for migrants here in the U.S."

Trump has, according to Ramírez, "made a major policy decision as well as unfriendly and confrontational statements toward the largest trading partner of the U.S. That discourse is what polarizes us now. 

 

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John-Gizzi
The head of the National Conference of Governors of Mexico spelled out to Newsmax Saturday how he was trying to mobilize opposition among U.S. politicians to President Trump's wall along the border of the two countries.
john gizzi, mexican governors, wall, unproductive
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2017-09-26
Sunday, 26 February 2017 02:09 PM
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