Mexico freezes relations with US, Canadian embassies after judicial reform criticism

By Ana Isabel Martinez and Kylie Madry

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -The Mexican government has paused its relationship with the U.S. and Canadian embassies in the country, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Tuesday, after their ambassadors criticized a proposed judicial reform that he backs.

"There is a pause," Lopez Obrador said in a press conference, clarifying that the freeze was with the embassies and not with the countries.

The president is pushing a reform to elect judges, including Supreme Court justices, by popular vote. A committee in the lower house of Mexico's Congress passed the proposal late on Monday, paving the way for it to be approved when the newly elected Congress takes office in September.

Proponents say the reform will boost democracy and help fix a system that they argue does not serve the public, while critics say it will skew power in favor of the executive, cut off judges' careers, and make the courts more susceptible to criminal influence.

U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar last week labeled the reform a "major risk to the functioning of Mexico's democracy" and cautioned of a potential risk to the U.S.-Mexico trade relationship.

The U.S. and Mexico are each other's largest trade partners.

Canada's ambassador to Mexico, Graeme Clark, also warned of investment concerns.

Later on Tuesday after Lopez Obrador's comments, Salazar posted a diplomatic note from the embassy, dated Aug. 23.

"The United States supports the concept of judicial reform in Mexico, but we have significant concerns that the popular election of judges would neither address judicial corruption nor strengthen the judicial branch of the Government of Mexico," the note read.

The Canadian embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Lopez Obrador had criticized what he called Salazar's interference in internal politics.

"How are we going to allow the ambassador to give his opinion, to say what we're doing is wrong?" Lopez Obrador added. "We aren't going to tell him to get out of the country. But for him to read our Constitution, yes, we will say that."

Salazar had previously said he was open to speaking with Mexican government leaders to discuss different judicial models.

Lopez Obrador said the "pause" would continue until "there was confirmation that (the embassies) would respect Mexico's independence."

The diplomatic note from the U.S. said the country had the "utmost respect for Mexico's sovereignty."

Mexico's peso was down 1.65% in early afternoon trading.

It has dropped sharply since the June elections, in which Lopez Obrador's favored successor, Claudia Sheinbaum, won the presidency and their Morena party and allies nabbed a supermajority in the lower house and nearly a supermajority in the Senate.

A two-thirds vote is necessary to amend the Constitution, which the judicial reform would need to do.

(Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez, Raul Cortes and Kylie Madry; Editing by Sarah Morland, Paul Simao and Jonathan Oatis)