The president of Mexico calls Americans "liars"

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has accused the US State Department of human rights abuses, and dismissed his country's neighbors to the north as "liars." He made his comments before a scheduled meeting with former US Secretary of State John Kerry, now Biden's climate envoy. Relations with Washington have soured in recent weeks due to a spate of kidnappings of US citizens in northern Mexico, including a case in which two people were killed by a group associated with a drug cartel. The Mexican president has suggested that an "anti-Mexico" conservative element in the US government has inflamed tensions between the countries and used the fatal kidnapping incident to make attacks on his country's safety record. The US has defended the US allegations against Mexico's government, noting that the reported involvement of members of Mexican police, military and other government institutions in serious acts of corruption and unlawful arbitrary killings remain a serious challenge for Mexico.