Ricardo Pascoe Pierce
Mexico’s absence, especially that of President Claudia Sheinbaum, from international forums is noticeable. It is difficult to understand her absence because some exploit it to point out the problems facing our country, as if Mexico were the only country facing such situations. They use Mexico as a piñata, and there is no one to defend us effectively or explain the reasons for one policy or another.
The criticism that President Bukele of El Salvador directed at “Claudia” was notable, referring to the problems of drug trafficking and violence facing our country, contrasting his supposed achievements with Mexico’s failures. The response was a silence that reverberated throughout the room. That meeting between CELAC and the European Union was a stellar moment that could have boosted Mexico’s economy toward diversification. It was a missed opportunity. Was the president’s absence justified by the presence of the Spanish President Sánchez at that meeting?
The G20 meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, with Lula, as president of Brazil and host, in active attendance, was another missed opportunity in which a Mexican delegation was irrelevant. The president also did not attend the COP 30 meeting in Brazil, held from November 6 to 21. It is easy to guess that she will not participate in the upcoming Pacific Alliance meeting either, given the political dispute between the Mexican government and those of Peru and Ecuador.
She also did not attend the United Nations General Assembly. More worryingly, she has not had a face-to-face meeting with President Trump. An attempt was indeed made in Canada, but it was thwarted. Since then, there has been no news of any Mexican initiative to fly to Washington to hold such a meeting. It seems that there is a certain fear of one of those public meetings in the Oval Office. Or is it that Trump’s demands on the Mexican government, which the president is aware of, are simply unanswerable?
What is the origin of Mexico’s new timidity in the world? On the one hand, it is budgetary. Embassies are operating at half capacity due to cuts and low salaries. We have a diplomatic corps demoralized by its precarious working conditions. Another aspect is Mexico’s aggressive politicization, lashing out at other countries, which discourages a diplomatic corps accustomed to promoting conciliation and dialogue, but now must behave rhetorically as the president does. This aggressiveness hides what the Mexican government does not want to be known.
The Mexican government is hiding a dilemma it cannot resolve, so it prefers to hide its face. Mexico is an integral part of North America and its economy, by virtue of its association with the USMCA. This fact is an economic reality that has political implications, including for the millions of Mexicans living in the United States. Mexico is obliged, by virtue of its association with the CUSMA/USMCA/T-MEC, to respond to political situations in acceptable, though not total, harmony with its trading partners. There is room for certain differences and alternative views. But those differences must be subject to fundamental agreement on issues such as democracy, the rule of law, respect for the rules of the CUSMA/USMCA/T-MEC, and the defense of human rights.
When it comes to Latin America, the consensus is that Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela are undemocratic regimes that violate the human rights of their citizens. Or that Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. There may be nuances in interpreting China, but it is definitely not a democratic ally, nor is Russia. In fact, they are adversaries of the liberal order. However, Mexico differs from its two trading partners on all these points. It prefers to have Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela as friends rather than the rest of Latin America. It refuses to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and suggests that the Chinese or Russian political models are preferable to liberalism. Morena’s leadership believes all of this, but it does not want to say so in international forums. Therefore, it pursues a shameful foreign policy, exercising it in secret and in silence.
A government that does not want to say what it thinks because it could lead to a breakdown in relations with its economic partners lives in denial of itself. It lives with the black soul of the deception and lies it perpetrates day after day. Mexico is governed by a clique that hides its true intentions. It does not dare to say what it thinks, knowing it lacks consensus. A government that lies to the rest of the world is not trustworthy, because lies are perceived even when not expressed. Our leaders hide so that the lies they carry inside are not discovered.
Their secret is that they are autocrats, not democrats. And they believe neither in alternation of power nor in free elections. They believe in imposition. As in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, they are allies of drug trafficking.
@rpascoep
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