MEXICO CITY – After failing to implement his ban on soft drinks in his hometown, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has taken his anti-soda message south to Mexico, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Mexican government is considering a proposal that would add one peso (8 cents) in taxes per liter of sugared beverages, part of a massive tax overhaul plan introduced by President Enrique Peña Nieto last month.

The Mexican president said the tax on sugared soda would assist the nation in halting the growing obesity and diabetes epidemics. Bloomberg Philanthropies, which runs the mayor’s charitable activities, gave $10 million since 2011 to help Mexico combat obesity. The organization’s website has “raising taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages” as a key way to do this.

“Bloomberg Philanthropies is supporting advocates and researchers in Mexico who have been working to find solutions to the devastating health impacts of obesity,” said Kelly Henning, who directs public health programs at the organization. “With more than 70% of adult Mexicans and 34% of Mexican children overweight or obese and diabetes as the second-leading cause of death it is clear that all solutions need to be seriously considered to save as many lives as possible.”

Alejandro Calvillo, director of El Poder del Consumidor, which received funds from Bloomberg Philanthropies to help with its campaign to add a soda tax, said they had been talking about such a plan before the charity group approached them. “The only thing that Bloomberg has done is support a pre-existing organization,” said Calvillo. “The soft-drink industry says that Bloomberg wants to do here what he wasn't able to in New York — as if we were puppets,” but that isn’t true.