Mexican opposition calls for US to label ruling party 'terrorist organization'

Alejandro Moreno, president of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), has formally requested that the US State Department intervene and designate the ruling Morena party as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).

Through social media, Moreno — a vocal critic of the ruling party and President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration — shared the written petition submitted to the State Department.

The document and formal request are based on allegations of criminal ties between foreign terrorist organizations and Morena.

Moreno heads Mexico’s third-largest political party after Morena. He has openly accused Morena and several of its officials of colluding with criminal organizations, although he has not provided evidence to support those allegations.

“The petition is based on the clear and evident links between MORENA and organized crime groups. There are clear precedents,” Moreno wrote.

In the document, Moreno cites Batasuna, the political party widely regarded as the political wing of the armed separatist group ETA, which was outlawed in 2003.

“Today we point to a similar case in Mexico, where organized crime, in alliance with MORENA, has interfered in electoral processes, operated with political backing, and received protection in return,” Moreno wrote.

Morena is the largest political force in the country, holding the presidency, control of both chambers of Congress, and governing 24 of Mexico’s 31 states—representing more than 70% of the territory where the population lives.

Since the 2018 elections, when then-President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador established his party's near-hegemonic dominance, there has been an increase in violence indicators in the country, including forced disappearances and political violence against candidates from all political parties.

“Mexico cannot normalize having political power linked to organized crime. The country deserves a clean government with no ties to the criminals who have filled the nation with violence,” he added.