AMLO: López Obrador proposes at the UN a global plan against poverty to give a decent life to 750 million people

The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, presided over the session of the UN Security Council on Tuesday in which his country assumed the monthly presidency of the same. On his second visit abroad since he was elected president, in 2018, López Obrador sat next to the UN Secretary General, the Portuguese António Guterres, in the sanctum of the international body and, in a brief speech, in which described the unequal distribution of vaccines against covid-19 a “painful failure”, has proposed a global plan to fight poverty that allows a “decent life” for 750 million people who live on less than two dollars a day, financed largely by the wealthiest individuals and corporations. Except when taking the floor, the president of Mexico has remained at all times with a mask.

The Mexican ambassador to the UN, Juan Ramón de la Fuente, has also read the declaration of principles that will encourage the mandate of his country before the highest body of the UN, with a key objective: the control of light weapons throughout the world . It is an endeavor with an obvious internal reading, since eradicating the illicit trafficking of small arms and light weapons, which end up in the hands of the drug cartels, is a priority of the Mexican Government.

Because most of these weapons come from its neighbor to the north, Mexico recently sued 10 arms manufacturers in a US federal court, for compensation that could reach 10 billion dollars in potential damages, according to foreign ministry sources. Mexican newspaper cited The New York Times. The presence of López Obrador at the United Nations headquarters in New York, as well as the Mexican presidency of the Council, thus gives an international projection to one of his domestic priorities.

López Obrador will be in New York in less than 24 hours. Supporters and detractors have gathered around the United Nations building, the first in loud and musical displays of support for the president. It is his second trip abroad since he became president in 2018. The first time was in 2020 when he met with then-US President Donald Trump, at the White House, on a highly controversial trip due to disqualifications and insults. the Republican’s priors toward Mexicans, in addition to his proposal to expand the border wall.

The session chaired this Tuesday by López Obrdor and Guterres dealt with the challenges of exclusion, inequality and their impact on conflicts, without forgetting factors such as migration and climate change as contributors. In the immediate agenda of the Mexican presidency are initiatives to improve coordination between the different UN bodies by demonstrating that it is necessary to achieve “a more functional link” between them, in the words of Ambassador De la Fuente. That discussion will be held on the 16th of November. On November 22, the Mexican presidency will officially launch in the Council the campaign for the control of small arms, an initiative inherited in part from Kenya, which preceded Mexico on the podium.

Sessions are also planned on the UN assistance mission in Afghanistan (Unama) and the Joint Sahel Force G5. As co-chair, together with Ireland, of the informal group of experts on Women, Peace and Security, Mexico has not organized any concrete debate in November on gender issues, but it does intend, according to United Nations sources, that the gender perspective runs through the Most of the Council meetings, especially those related to Afghanistan and the uncertain fate of Afghan women and girls.

“We have tried to be very consistent in that everything we do in the Security Council must take into account the perspective of women and the protection of women. The important thing now is that women become part of the humanitarian effort so that they can participate in any type of assistance, “she recently told the information portal. Pass Blue a member of the Mexican legation to the UN.

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