Two senators, a Republican and a Democrat, have written to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to express their concern that Russia is currently working to influence foreign elections in Mexico and other Latin American countries.
"We write to urge you to raise the importance of strong, independent electoral systems in Mexico and Latin America more broadly," Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Bob Menendez, D-N.J., tell Tillerson in a letter, according to CBS News.
"We are increasingly concerned about growing efforts to undermine these hard-fought and widely supported advances, particularly those emanating from outside the region."
They add that Russia has "sophisticated technology" that it's using in Mexico to influence the presidential election taking place this year.
"Weak electoral systems can be easily exploited and manipulated by malicious actors like Russia," the senators continue. "As such, we believe it is critical that USAID [United States Agency for International Development] continue to play an active role in providing technical assistance, education and training to support countries' efforts to strengthen electoral systems."
White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster warned of Russian interference in Mexico in December.
"We've seen that this is really a sophisticated effort to polarize democratic societies and pit communities within those societies against each other," McMaster said during his keynote address for the Jamestown Foundation, according to Reuters.
"You've seen actually initial signs of it in the Mexican presidential campaign already."
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