U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez is calling for the revocation of U.S. visas for members of Mexico’s Federal Congress participating in the newly formed Mexico-Russia Friendship Committee.
In a letter penned to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Gonzalez called for the U.S Government to ensure that those who support Russia in the midst of its invasion of Ukraine are not “allowed the privileges of entry into our country.”
The letter comes nearly two weeks after a half-dozen legislators from Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s Morena party created a congressional “Mexico-Russia Friendship Committee” on March 23.
The list of legislators in that committee had grown to 25 at the time of Gonzalez’s letter.
“In recent days and in the midst of an international crisis perpetrated by Russia in Eastern Europe, several legislators from Mexico’s Federal Congress, (Chamber of Deputies) took this opportunity to shun the free world and stand with Russian President Vladimir Putin, by forming a Mexico-Russia Friendship Committee,” Gonzalez’s letter said. “It’s disgraceful enough that Mexico — our closest neighbor to the South — has chosen not to stand in unity with the international community of democracies.”
Gonzalez said the officials who joined the committee “should not be allowed the privilege of entering, traveling or investing in the United State of America.”
Mexico has refused to send aid to Ukraine or impose sanctions on Russia, Gonzalez said.
However, it did vote in favor of a U.N. resolution condemning the invasion, according to the Associated Press. López Obrador also declared Mexico was neutral in the conflict.
