On Sunday, March 24, the CBS flagship production 60 Minutes presented Sharyn Alfonsi’s interview of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, often referred to by his initials AMLO.

AMLO is nearing the end of his presidential term and Mexico is currently engaged in its 2024 presidential campaign season to choose his successor.

Currently leading in the polls is Claudia Sheinbaum of AMLO’s own MORENA party.

Overall, it wasn’t a bad 60 Minutes segment. Alfonsi didn’t just toss the Mexican president softballs.

You can watch the interview here (begins at about 15:30 mark) and the transcript is here.

AMLO claimed he has nearly eliminated corruption and that his anti-crime policies are working. Alfonsi questioned these assertions and provided contrary evidence in her segment.

Here’s a real gem from the interview:

• Alfonsi: “Your critics say that you're popular because you give people money. What do you say?”
• AMLO: “I would say they are partly right…”

AMLO had a lot to say about immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border. It’s quite likely that the next president of Mexico, regardless of party, will have the same ideas about the border as AMLO.

At the beginning of the interview, AMLO said the border wall “doesn’t work."

Really?

When I was deployed to Iraq with the Texas Army National Guard I spent some time on a fence construction project.

The military engineer who trained us pointed out that the barrier itself is not the entire defense – you need to have guard towers and to monitor the fence.

Likewise, on the U.S. border, a wall is necessary but not sufficient on its own.

If our government would fill in the holes and enforce the law, then a wall would work.

In discussing the recent drop in border crossings, AMLO confirmed what we thought – that he struck a deal with the Biden administration to reduce the crossings.

Alfonsi pointed this out: “By February, the number of migrants crossing into the U.S. began to rise again and the Border Patrol expects a sharp increase in that number this spring.”

AMLO got into “root causes" – including the belief that the U.S. can fix Third World countries so their people won’t have to invade ours.

AMLO claims four things would fix the alleged root causes: “With the ear of the White House – President López Obrador proposed his fix - that the United States commit $20 billion a year to poor countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, lift sanctions on Venezuela, end the Cuban embargo, and legalize millions of law-abiding Mexicans [sic] living in the U.S.”

According to AMLO, if these things aren’t done, the migrant flow will continue, though he says he will continue to cooperate with the U.S. even if we don’t do the four things he proposed.

CBS published an additional segment online called 60 Minutes Overtime in which AMLO discussed four American politicians.

AMLO commended Trump and Biden for respecting Mexico but criticized Texas Governor Greg Abbott for what he’s doing on the border.

The Mexican president knocked Speaker of the House Mike Johnson for saying that the U.S. could compel Mexico to allow asylum seekers to remain in Mexico.

No, said AMLO, that violates Mexican sovereignty.

The funny thing is, AMLO went along with that exact policy when Trump was president!

I’ve been following AMLO’s career for years. I even heard him speak live once when I resided in Mexico.

The guy is a brilliant politician and has a real gift of gab.

At the end of the 60 Minutes segment, Sharyn Alfonsi said “[W]hat [AMLO] does next at the border - or doesn't do - could shape the next chapter of the United States.”

With all due respect, I don’t agree.

At the end of the day, what really counts is not what AMLO does but what the U.S. government does on the border.

If we had a government with the will to protect our sovereignty we could secure the border.

It wouldn’t matter a hill of beans what the president of Mexico said or did.

You can find more of Allan Wall's work at his website and Mexico News Report.

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