Federico Reyes Heroles
The photographs will be history.
First photo: Trump and his minion Vance harassing Zelenski, demanding accountability, pushing him to capitulate, blaming him for a world war. Zero diplomacy, Trumpian bullying at its finest. Trump is speaking for Putin. The world is upside down. First of all, the criticism of his attire. The Ukrainian president is the “disrespectful one.” They don’t remember Churchill’s overalls, the same gentleman who presented himself in a tailcoat and top hat or replete with decorations; he wore some strange garments made to order to remember the moments that Europe and, in particular, his country were going through. It is the equivalent of wearing mourning, the color black, as a necessary display of loss. Ukraine was invaded. Death stalks them every day. They are the ones who defend their sovereignty daily.
Second photo: the leaders of the European Union — almost two dozen — and the Canadian prime minister, the representative of NATO, the European Commission, and the European Council, convened by the British prime minister, all rallying around Zelenski, just 48 hours later. They, too, can invoke the term sovereignty insofar as they have been able to construct a political scaffolding — the most complex in humanity — to achieve a form of association and co-government of mutual benefit. They have been able to superimpose the always-renewed figures of human rights, an extension of them, on customs and traditions. But, yes, they all comply with minimum standards regarding freedoms and, of course, security, administration of justice, and others. A leap forward for civilization. In the tradition of Rousseau, ceding sovereignty to gain sovereignty.
The European Union provides half of the support resources to Ukraine, the country invaded by Putin, who now enjoys the complicity of Trump. The European Union reacts and revives in the face of Putin’s imperial moods. Hence the importance of the speeches of two German chancellors, the outgoing Olaf Scholz and the incoming Friedrich Merz: support for Ukraine and Merz’s rejection of the far right, AfD. The previous speeches by Justin Trudeau on February 1st, addressed to the Americans, in which he reminds them of the multiple Canadian support to the US, just at critical moments: wars, Normandy, September 11th, or the fires in California, are not to be missed. He warns them of the negative consequences of Trump’s tariff proposals for the citizens of both countries. Trudeau recalls the sovereign character of the association with the US and Mexico. Trump wants Canada as the 51st state. That’s why sovereignty comes up. The Finnish president, Alexander Stubb, is notable for recalling the 1,300 kilometers of border with Russia and the “existential” wars to survive their imperial moods, the invasion of 1939. We understand what you are experiencing, he tells Zelenski; it is about the defense of nationhood, of the conditions to be a nation with its own government, traditions, and language. We are all at risk.
However, the pressures on Mexico are very different. Von der Leyen was very clear. Every country has the right to reinvent its justice system, but it… has to be independent, efficient, impartial, and effective. Will it be by an election? Of course not. The warnings and their consequences are already there: (new) Foreign Direct Investment is falling dramatically. The Mexican government is accused of collusion with the drug traffickers. There is no sovereignty. It is a crime. The 29 capos were offered as an expiation, and Sheinbaum blamed the judges. But they were in prison? Although many are still at large. She is deceiving herself. The omissions and the complicity are evident. Sheinbaum rectifies the facts. Good for her. But her narrative deceives and is deceived. More than 30% of the territory is in the hands of the narcos. Now, that is losing sovereignty. The judicial reform will formalize the complicity.
The tariffs are going ahead. Will have to rectify this. There are formulas.
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