MEXICO CITY -  A "very interventionist" attitude still prevails in the United States although the world has entered a "new era," Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Monday.

During a routine daily press conference, Lopez Obrador questioned remarks made Sunday by former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who criticized a Mexican government initiative to overhaul the judiciary branch to combat corruption.

We still have to suffer this interventionism, which I feel will gradually fade away to the extent that Mexico's government is not a subservient government.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Mexican President 

"They cannot stop doing that (intervening in the affairs of another country) unfortunately, even though we are living in a new era," he told reporters at the National Palace in Mexico City.

"We still have to suffer this interventionism, which I feel will gradually fade away to the extent that Mexico's government is not a subservient government," he added.

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According to Lopez Obrador, in Washington, "they have the bad habit of sticking their noses in other places," since their foreign policy stems from the era of the Monroe Doctrine, in which they would build up or tear down nations, send invading troops and even appoint leaders at will.

Pompeo's statements, contained in an opinion piece published in the US newspaper The Wall Street Journal, were made with the coming US presidential elections in mind, said the Mexican president.

Lopez Obrador has often chided the US for continuing to follow an outdated doctrine devised in the 19th century to protect its economic interests in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Separately, the governor of Mexico's Michoacan state, Alfredo Ramirez, said on Monday that state and federal officials had agreed with US authorities on a security model to protect US health safety inspectors of avocado and mango in Mexico.

US Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar, who was present at the news conference with Ramirez, said the US was supporting and working with Mexican officials on security, deforestation and labor issues in the state.

With Reuters inputs