From .
Sunday will mark the second presidential debate for candidates vying to be the of Mexico. The debate will be televised and take place in the border city of Tijuana.
The tone of front runner Andr茅s Manuel L贸pez Obrador hasn鈥檛 particularly been warm toward the Trump administration, and a win from that camp could signal a monumental shift in relations between the U.S. and Mexico.
, the director of the Mexico Center at Rice University鈥檚 Baker Institute for Public Policy, says President Donald Trump and L贸pez Obrador are in some ways opposites.
鈥淚 would characterize Mr. Trump as a populist from the right,鈥� Payan says. 鈥淚n Mexico, Mr. L贸pez Obrador is equally populist but catering to the left.鈥�
L贸pez Obrador just gave a major speech in which he praised Fidel Castro.
鈥淚 think we鈥檙e up for a very turbulent couple of years until the 2020 presidential election in the United States,鈥� Payan says. 鈥淢r. L贸pez Obrador began his campaign in Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas for a couple of reasons.鈥�
First, L贸pez Obrador needed to connect with the right-of-center voters in northern states 鈥� and he鈥檚 doing very well there.
鈥淭hese are mostly PAN states,鈥� he says. 鈥淪o there鈥檚 clearly a reaction in those states towards all the rhetoric against the wall. And the other thing is, this is the exact place, just a stone鈥檚 throw from the U.S.-Mexico border where he said that Mexico would no longer be the pi帽ata of Mr. Trump. And that was quite symbolic because I think many Mexicans who believed for very long that there was a strategic partnership between the two countries are upset because Mr. Trump obviously considers Mexico more of an adversary, rather than an ally.鈥�
Payan says Mexico鈥檚 political parties are creating some highly in the upcoming election.
Written by Jen Rice.
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