MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Thursday his country’s guiding principles as it takes a seat on the United Nations Security Council will be peace, avoiding the impositions of the major powers and cooperation for development so people are not forced to migrate.
“We don’t want military cooperation, we don’t want them to support us with armed helicopters,” López Obrador said. “We want cooperation for development because peace is the fruit of justice.”
Mexico was elected to a non-permanent seat on the U.N.’s most powerful body Wednesday for the fifth time in its history.
López Obrador promised to defend self-determination, non-intervention, peaceful solutions and equality among states. Mexico, for example, has not condemned Venezuela’s government or recognized opposition chief Juan Guaidó as its leader as the United States and European nations have.
This week López Obrador said he would sell Venezuela gasoline if that country asked for it, despite U.S.-led sanctions.
The president highlighted immigration as a topic Mexico would speak out on. Last year, the U.S. threatened crippling tariffs on Mexican imports unless Mexico did more to slow the flow of migrants passing through its territory.
Mexico responded by dispatching its newly formed National Guard to try to contain migrants to southern Mexico. It also allowed the U.S. to return asylum seekers from other countries to await their cases in Mexico. In exchange, the U.S. government agreed to invest more in development in southern Mexico and Central America. López Obrador said the U.S. had not kept up its side of the deal, but Mexico was investing.