MEXICO CITY, Aug 14 (Reuters) – Andres Manuel Lopez Beltran, a son of former Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, said the United States has revoked his visa, accusing Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Deputy Secretary Christopher Landau of ordering what he called a politically motivated decision.
Lopez Beltran, widely known as “Andy,” made the claim in a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump that was released late Thursday. He said U.S. authorities had provided no evidence linking him to any crime or wrongdoing.
The 39-year-old politician recently stepped down from leadership in the ruling Morena party, which his father founded. In his letter, he called the visa revocation “a crude and perverse act” by U.S. officials and hardliners whom he said target foreign politicians by labeling them “communists,” “threats to U.S. security,” or “narco-terrorists.”
The U.S. embassy in Mexico did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lopez Beltran left his party role as he prepares to seek a seat in Mexico’s lower house of Congress in the 2027 midterm elections, likely representing a district in his home state of Tabasco. He said he hoped Trump would respond to the concerns raised in his letter.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Friday that U.S. visa revocations aimed at what Washington calls “politically exposed persons” were “essentially political” because they were not applied equally across countries.
In the letter, Lopez Beltran also said he did not mind avoiding travel to the United States, which he described as going through a period of hatred, racism and drug addiction.
He also referred to an open letter published by his father in June, in which the former president accused Washington of using “interventionist and unscrupulous practices” to strengthen Mexico’s right-wing opposition and weaken his leftist movement.
Reuters reported last year that the U.S. government had revoked the visas of at least 50 Mexican politicians and officials as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on drug cartels and their alleged political allies.
(Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez; Additional reporting by Fabiola Aramburo, Kylie Madry and Diego Ore; Editing by Rod Nickel)
