MEXICO CITY -- A son of a former Mexican president said that the U.S. had revoked his visa in what the country's current leader said was a politically motivated attack on Mexico's ruling party.
In an open letter to President Trump posted on social media late Thursday night that was later deleted, Andrés Manuel López Beltrán blamed U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his deputy, Christopher Landau, who calls himself "El Quitavisas" or the Visa Revoker, for the cancellation.
Calling the move a "Hitlerian" action, he said Trump should fire the two officials. López Beltrán is the son of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the founder of the leftist ruling party Morena, and the powerful mentor of the current Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum.
Addressing Trump, López Beltrán asked whether the move was "a sick conservative phobia" directed against Morena and its leaders.
The visa revocation was the latest U.S. attempt to meddle in Mexico, Sheinbaum said in her Friday morning press conference. "In my opinion, it's an attempt to interfere in Mexican politics," she said. "I don't see any other reason."
López Beltrán said he hadn't committed any criminal or immoral act that would merit the visa being revoked. A U.S. Embassy spokesman declined to comment. A State Department spokesperson said the U.S. has a policy of not commenting on specific cases, but added that "every visa decision is a national security decision."
This month the State Department revoked the visa of Brazil's ambassador to Washington, amid a diplomatic row and accusations that the Trump administration is attempting to interfere in the country's presidential elections in October.
Sheinbaum said the move against López Beltrán was the latest action the U.S. had taken against Mexico's sovereignty following the April indictment of Rubén Rocha, the governor of Sinaloa state, and another nine former and current officials, by the U.S. The officials were indicted on charges of accepting bribes to protect the operations of the Sinaloa cartel, which allegedly helped Rocha win the governor's post in 2021. Rocha denies the allegations against him.
At the time of the indictments, Sheinbaum said Mexico wouldn't extradite the men, as requested by the U.S., because no evidence had been submitted supporting the charges. If the U.S. had such evidence, it should be presented to Mexico, where the accused would be judged in Mexican courts, Sheinbaum repeated Friday.
Known as Andy, López Beltrán, the second son of López Obrador, held a key political position in Morena following the end of his father's presidential term in 2024. He recently stepped down from his job working for the party and is preparing to run for Mexico's national assembly in midterm elections next year, representing his home state of Tabasco.
Reports in Mexican media have linked López Beltrán to various corruption schemes, which he has denied. He isn't under investigation in Mexico, Sheinbaum said, adding that the U.S. hadn't notified the Mexican government of the visa cancellation.
The visa revocation comes soon after senior U.S. officials described Mexico as a country controlled by drug traffickers and vowed to pursue Mexican officials who collude with the nation's powerful cartels. Last month, Terry Cole, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration said the Mexican government and the country's cartels were "one and the same." He said the Rocha indictments were "just the beginning of what is to come in Mexico."
Since Trump began his second term, the U.S. has pressured Mexico to allow U.S. troops to act inside the country alone or on joint operations with the Mexican military, a request that Sheinbaum has resisted. Sheinbaum said she didn't believe López Beltrán's letter would imperil Mexico's relationship with the U.S., however. "We always have to work for a good relationship," she said.
She noted that the government had been of two minds as to whether to send security chief Omar Garcia Harfuch to a DEA conference in Argentina, given Mexico's rocky relationship with the agency. But Garcia Harfuch flew to the meeting after the cabinet unanimously voted to allow him to go.
"The best way to do things is not to become small," Sheinbaum said, referring to Mexico's relationship with the U.S. "Why are we going to kneel? Why are we going to lower our heads? Why are we going to be afraid?"
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