World

Mexico presidential candidate wants to move closer to US as leftist opponent prefers Cuba

Published

2 years ago

March 10, 2024

Press Room

Mexico presidential candidate wants to move closer to US as leftist opponent prefers Cuba

Join Fox News for access to this content

Plus special access to select articles and other premium content with your account – free of charge.

Please enter a valid email address.

FIRST ON FOX – Mexico will elect a new president in June and, for the first time the race is between two women, Xóchitl Gálvez Ruiz from a coalition of center-right-left parties, considered an unprecedented anti-communist coalition, and Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo’s leftist coalition.

The differences between the two women are vast – Galvez wanting to work with the U.S. as the country’s main ally while Sheinbaum seems to be more intent on following the far-left approach of the outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO.)

Gálvez was recently in New York and Washington, D.C., to meet with members of Congress, business leaders and officials from the State Department, where she presented her vision for Mexico and for the future of its relationship with the U.S.

During her visit she addressed the border, immigration, fentanyl, organized crime, nearshoring, and the future of the trade agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC). She reminded the U.S. that “according to a study published in the journal Science, organized crime is the fifth-largest employer in Mexico.”

NEW CHALLENGER GIVES MEXICAN OPPOSITION HOPE OF BEATING AMLO’S PARTY

Upon her return to Mexico, Gálvez answered Fox News Digital questions at a press conference about the stark differences between her and her opponent.

“In the first scenario, Mexico gets back on the democratic track to strengthen the rule of law, and it confronts organized crime head on, and reclaims its territory, and reduces violence, eliminates extortion, and provides basic legal certainty for businesses. In this scenario, Mexico and the U.S. build a relationship that brings about not only prosperity but also security, safety, and democratic stability to North America,” she said.

Presidential candidate Xóchitl Gálvez is running as the underdog candidate. (Gerardo Vieyra/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

She claimed a win by her opponent will lead to major problems. “Mexico continues to move toward democratic erosion. Organized crime spreads, and the military gains political power and is incapable of providing security. Mexicans are victims of insecurity, extortion and violence, which hinder growth and development in entire regions. Mexico continues to be a trade partner but is not a geopolitical ally of the U.S., Mexico’s populist government flirts with Russia and China. And threatens to build new partnerships.”

Some analysts wonder why the bilateral relationship has not advanced during AMLO’s presidency and the Biden administration. Gálvez’ response: “Today we are partners, but we are not allies.”

She said if the ruling left-wing party wins again, “neither immigration, nor fentanyl, nor any other bilateral problem will be able to find long-term solutions. Solving the problems of immigration and fentanyl requires three things that the current government of Mexico and her candidate do not have: a state strategy, institutional capacity, and genuine will to collaborate.”

She said, “presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum only promises continuity and says that Mexico is better than ever when we know with all the evidence that is not true.”

Presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum speaks during a campaign rally at Plaza Liberación on March 3, 2024, in Guadalajara, Mexico. Mexicans will head to the polls for the general election on June 2. (Leonardo Alvarez Hernandez/Getty Images)

Presently trailing in several opinion polls, Gálvez, who hopes to close the gap as the June election gets nearer, told Fox News Digital, “The United States always has the fear that our customs agents let fentanyl pass through, and we complain to them that they let weapons pass through.”

Critics of Sheinbaum warn she has made clear that, under her leadership, Mexico will follow the principles of “free self-determination of the people, non-intervention in the internal affairs of other countries and the peaceful resolution of conflicts,” which leads her to promise the continuity of the “hugs not bullets” strategy to avoid confronting the drug cartels.

Unlike Galvez, who believes that the Mexico- U.S. relationship is the most important one, Sheinbaum wants to focus more on Latin America, where she has shown enormous sympathy with the regimes of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. She has even gone so far as to declare: “Mexico should never have a submissive relationship with the United States, ever.”

MEXICO PRESIDENT MOCKS ABBOTT’S PLANNED MILITARY BASE CAMP ALONG TEXAS BORDER: ‘PUT AS MANY AS YOU WANT’

Presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum waves to supporters. (Victoria Razo/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Economist and political analyst Alfredo Velasco told Fox News Digital, “To evaluate a candidate and her government program, we need to know her preparation, experience and performance in previous positions or activities. Rather than assigning value to her campaign promises, it is important to know her achievements. Of the candidates in the campaign, the most prepared with master’s and doctoral studies is Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo. The one with the most experience in public administration and the one who has accredited important achievements is also Sheinbaum.” Sheinbaum is the former mayor of Mexico City.

Xochitl Galvez holds a Mexican national flag during a political event at the Angel of Independence monument on Sept. 3, 2023, in Mexico City. (Gerardo Vieyra/picture alliance via Getty Images)

He continued, “Where I think there is a significant gap is in the approach to the campaigns. While Claudia Sheinbaum has a diagnosis and a 100-point program to address the country’s fundamental problems, Xóchitl Gálvez focuses her campaign on public insecurity, which is perhaps what worries the population the most.”

A multi-agency investigation targeting the Sinaloa Drug Cartel. (Tempe PD)

MIGRANT ON TERROR WATCHLIST ARRESTED ILLEGALLY CROSSING TEXAS BORDER PRIOR TO BIDEN, TRUMP VISITS: SOURCES

Political analyst Juan Hernández, a former cabinet member under President Vicente Fox, believes Gálvez was very clear on her visit to the U.S. and that if she wins, she will work with Washington to stop money going to drug traffickers and the weapons going to Mexico. “She didn’t blame the U.S. but wanted to make sure that, to stop this cancer, both countries need to work together in a new way. She said she would be a great negotiator and emphasized that she is aware and concerned of how many people have died in the U.S. due to fentanyl consumption.”

The US-Mexico border fence with camp shelters left by migrants in San Ysidro, California, on Sept, 14, 2023. (Sandy Huffaker/AFP via Gettay Images)

Hernández continued, “There was more than one meeting with legislators. Their questions were very sincere, and she had a frank conversation with them. They asked her: Will you be strong in stopping the drug business in Mexico? She assured them that she will and that both sides need to work together in a new way. She insisted that they need to do their part as legislators, these cannot be done by Mexico alone.”

Ildefonso Guajardo, the former minister of economy and international liaison for Gálvez, told Fox News Digital that the tour was to basically “Wake up Washington!”

A musician performs during a campaign rally for presidential candidate Xóchitl Gálvez in Irapuato, Mexico, on March 1, 2024. (Ulises Ruiz/AFP via Getty Images)

He said, “Gálvez shared her vision of Mexico’s position in the most important relationship it has in North America and its positioning in the world.”

“She clearly established that her vision is focused on a moment in which we return to global polarization in two compasses: one defined by her values where she identifies with governments that protect human rights, advance freedom, and democracy; where, clearly, Mexico’s interest is not associated with countries that are autocracies or single-man governments. And her other compass is that Mexico shares a large border with the United States where most of Mexico’s economic interest is associated with this market and that is why this relationship is of enormous priority.”

Questions sent to the presidential campaign of Claudia Sheinbaum were not returned.

World

A look at some of the contenders to be Iran’s supreme leader after the killing of Khamenei

Published

51 minutes ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

A look at some of the contenders to be Iran’s supreme leader after the killing of Khamenei

Iran’s leaders are scrambling to replace Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who ruled the country for 37 years before he was killed in the surprise U.S. and Israeli bombardment.

It’s only the second time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that a new supreme leader is being chosen. Potential candidates range from hard-liners committed to confrontation with the West to reformists who seek diplomatic engagement.

The supreme leader has the final say on all major decisions, including war, peace and the country’s disputed nuclear program.

In the meantime, a provisional governing council composed of President Masoud Pezeshkian, hard-line judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei and senior Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali Reza Arafi is guiding the country through its biggest crisis in decades. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that a new supreme leader would be chosen early this week.

The supreme leader is appointed by an 88-member panel called the Assembly of Experts, who by law are supposed to quickly name a successor. The panel consists of Shiite clerics who are popularly elected after their candidacies are approved by the Guardian Council, Iran’s constitutional watchdog.

Khamenei had major influence over both clerical bodies, making it unlikely the next leader will mark a radical departure.

Here are the top contenders.

Mojtaba Khamenei

The son of Khamenei, a mid-level Shiite cleric, is widely considered a potential successor. He has strong ties to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard but has never held office. His selection could prove awkward, as the Islamic Republic has long criticized hereditary rule and cast itself as a more just alternative.

Ayatollah Ali Reza Arafi

Arafi is a member of the provisional government council. The senior Shiite cleric was handpicked by Khamenei to be a member of the Guardian Council in 2019, and three years later he was elected to the Assembly of Experts. He leads a network of seminaries.

Hassan Rouhani

Rouhani, a relative moderate, was president of Iran from 2013 to 2021 and reached the landmark nuclear agreement with the Obama administration that U.S. President Donald Trump scrapped during his first term. Rouhani served on the Assembly of Experts until 2024, when he said he was disqualified from running for reelection. Rouhani criticized it as an infringement on Iranians’ political participation.

Hassan Khomeini

Khomeini is the most prominent grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He is also seen as a relative moderate, but has never held government office. He currently works at his grandfather’s mausoleum in Tehran.

Ayatollah Mohammed Mehdi Mirbagheri

Mirbagheri is a senior cleric popular with hard-liners who serves on the Assembly of Experts.

He was close to the late Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, a fellow hard-liner who wrote that Iran should not deprive itself of the right to produce “special weapons,” a veiled reference to nuclear arms.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mirbagheri denounced the closure of schools as a “conspiracy.”

He is currently the head of the Islamic Cultural Center in Qom, the main center for Islamic teaching in Iran.

World

US cleared to use British bases for limited strikes on Iranian missile capabilities

Published

2 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

US cleared to use British bases for limited strikes on Iranian missile capabilities

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

The U.S. has been cleared to use British bases for limited strikes on Iran’s missile capabilities after Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed off on the plan, and while U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey stated on Sunday Britain had “stepped up alongside the Americans.”

“The only way to stop the threat is to destroy the missiles at source, in their storage depots or the launchers which are used to fire the missiles,” Starmer confirmed in a recorded statement to the nation.

“The U.S. has requested permission to use British bases for that specific and limited defensive purpose,” he said. “We have taken the decision to accept this request.”

The decision came amid escalation across the Middle East in the wake of U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory missile and drone attacks, raising fears of a broader regional conflict.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed off on a plan to use British bases for limited strikes on Iranian missile capabilities. (Kin Cheung / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)

On Feb. 28, in the wake of Operation Epic Fury, Starmer confirmed British planes “are in the sky today” across the Middle East “as part of coordinated regional defensive operations to protect our people, our interests and our allies.”

Healey went on to disclose Sunday that two Iranian missiles were fired in the direction of Cyprus, where Britain maintains key sovereign base areas.

The Royal Air Force confirmed that Typhoon jets operating from Qatar as part of the joint U.K.-Qatar Typhoon Squadron successfully intercepted an Iranian drone heading toward Qatar.

About 300 British personnel are stationed at a naval facility in Bahrain, where Iranian missiles and drones struck nearby areas.

“We’re taking down the drones that are menacing either our bases, our people or our allies,” Healey told “Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips” on Sky. “We’ve stepped up alongside the Americans. We’ve stepped up our defensive forces in the Middle East. We’re flying those sorties.”

ISRAEL’S LARGEST EVER MILITARY FLYOVER HAMMERS IRANIAN MILITARY TARGETS

British Defense Secretary John Healey stressed that the U.K. had “no part” in the American-Israeli strikes on Iran. (Peter Nicholls/Pool via Reuters)

Healey also made sure to stress that the U.K. had “no part” in the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and insisted all British actions were defensive. “All our actions are about defending U.K. interests and defending U.K. allies,” he said.

When asked if the U.K. would join the U.S. in offensive action, Healey said, “I’m not going to speculate,” according to Sky News.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Downing Street also confirmed Feb. 28 that Starmer and President Donald Trump had spoken by phone about the “situation in the Middle East,” the BBC reported.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Downing Street for comment.

Emma Bussey is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Before joining Fox, she worked at The Telegraph with the U.S. overnight team, across desks including foreign, politics, news, sport and culture.

World

Pakistan calls troops, orders 3-day curfew as 24 killed in pro-Iran rallies

Published

3 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Pakistan calls troops, orders 3-day curfew as 24 killed in pro-Iran rallies

Army deployed and some areas in northern Gilgit-Baltistan region put under curfew after deadly violence over Khamenei’s killing.

By AFP, Anadolu and The Associated Press

Published On 2 Mar 2026

Pakistan has called in the military and imposed a three-day curfew in some areas following deadly protests over the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a joint United States-Israeli attack on Saturday.

At least 24 people were killed and dozens injured in clashes between protesters and security forces across the country on Sunday, prompting authorities to tighten security around the US embassy and consulates.