Mexico City, Sep 29 (AP) Mexico's president on Friday slammed US aid for Ukraine and economic sanctions on Venezuela, Cuba and other nations.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador issued a broad criticism of US foreign policy, saying US economic sanctions were forcing people to emigrate from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. Experts say economic mismanagement and political repression are largely to blame for the tide of migrants leaving those countries.

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López Obrador said the United States should spend some of the money sent to Ukraine on economic development in Latin America.

“They (the US) don't do anything,” he said. “It's more, a lot more, what they authorize for the war in Ukraine than what they give to help with poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean.”

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He called for a US program “to remove blockades and stop harassing independent and free countries, an integrated plan for cooperation so the Venezuelans, Cubans, Nicaraguans and Ecuadorans, Guatemalans and Hondurans wouldn't be forced to emigrate.”

There has been a surge in Venezuelan migrants moving through Mexico in recent weeks in a bid to reach the US border. Many of the migrants say deteriorating economic and political conditions in their home country led them to make the journey.

Mexico has condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine but has adopted a policy of neutrality and has refused to participate in sanctions. Mexico also continues to buy 2020-vintage COVID vaccines from Russia and Cuba.

The Mexican president laughed off an effort by US Republican lawmakers to cut the tiny amount of foreign aid the US gives to Mexico — López Obrador estimated it involved USD 40 or USD 50 million — calling it “ridiculous.”

Rep. Alex Mooney (R.-W Virginia) wrote Thursday that the House had voted to “cut off economic support funding to Mexico until they stop the trafficking of fentanyl across our Southern Border.” (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)