A week before the event, the Royal Family has not confirmed the presence of Felipe VI at the inauguration of Claudia Sheinbaum, the first woman to assume the Presidency of Mexico, on October 1 in the capital of the country. It is not due to a lack of interest or because some commitment prevents him from attending. Neither the transition team of the next Mexican president nor the current Foreign Ministry have confirmed that the head of the Spanish State has been invited.
All parties involved maintain a firm silence on a subject that is considered very delicate. Sources from La Zarzuela limit themselves to recalling that it is the Government that directs foreign policy and decides which international trips the Monarch makes. But Felipe de Borbón, first as Prince of Asturias and then as Monarch, has been present at some 80 inaugurations in Latin America and his absence at this ceremony of historical significance in one of the most important countries of the Ibero-American community would not go unnoticed. Sources from Sheinbaum’s transition team have assured this newspaper that all the countries with which Mexico has diplomatic relations were summoned. Spain, however, does not appear on the list of confirmations that has been made public.
The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also keeping a very laconic tone regarding the presence of Felipe VI at Claudia Sheinbaum’s inauguration. Sources from the department limit themselves to pointing out that “Spain is not working on any scenario other than the attendance of His Majesty the King at the inauguration of the Mexican president.” In other words, if Felipe VI is not invited, Spain would not be represented at the event, not even by its ambassador in Mexico.
“In accordance with our diplomatic protocol, the Government of Mexico sent diplomatic notes to all the nations of the world with which it maintains relations and international organizations in which it holds membership to participate in the ceremony of the transfer of power of the virtual president-elect,” the Foreign Ministry stated in early August, after the controversy arose over the invitation to leaders such as Russian Vladimir Putin. Diplomatic sources in Mexico say that Ecuador and Peru were the only two states not invited. Quito broke relations with Mexico and Lima downgraded its representation to the level of chargé d’affaires after several diplomatic clashes.
In December 2022, López Obrador declared a “diplomatic pause” in relations with Peru, following the departure of Pedro Castillo from power and the rise of Dina Boluarte as the new president. The Mexican president did the same with Spain in February of that year, after the controversy over the request for an apology for the abuses committed during the Conquest. As “diplomatic pauses” are not a recognized figure in International Relations, each State reacted differently.
Peru recalled its ambassador to Mexico and appointed the Mexican president and ambassador as persons non grataSpain decided to continue the relationship, although contacts at the government level cooled. López Obrador announced another “pause” last month with the United States and Canada after a clash over judicial reform, criticized by both countries. Washington and Ottawa, however, will have official representation at Sheinbaum’s ceremony, although neither Joe Biden nor Justin Trudeau will be present. The case of Ecuador is different because it is the only one in which a break in diplomatic relations was made official last April, after the assault on the Mexican Embassy in Quito. One of the officials consulted comments that one possibility is that the invitation was extended only to the head of government and not to the Spanish head of state. This newspaper requested an official position from the Mexican Foreign Ministry and Sheinbaum’s team to clarify the matter, but at the time of publication had not received a response.
Behind this bad gesture towards the King is the controversy that broke out in 2019 after the then President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, sent a letter to Felipe VI urging him to apologize for the excesses committed by the Spanish colonizers during the conquest of America. From the outset, the Spanish Government assured that this request for forgiveness was not going to happen and López Obrador has complained on several occasions that he did not even receive a response to the letter, which has cooled relations between the two countries at the government level, but not at the commercial level, where Spain remains an important partner for Mexico. It so happens that Felipe VI did attend the inauguration of López Obrador himself, in December 2018. Pedro Sánchez had an official visit to Mexico a month later. It was the last one he made.
Claudia Sheinbaum’s transition team reported last week that 16 presidents had confirmed their presence at the inauguration. The list includes Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva; Colombian Gustavo Petro; Chilean Gabriel Boric, and Cuban Miguel Díaz-Canel. Of the 16 heads of state and government who have confirmed their attendance, 13 are from Latin America and the Caribbean, and three from Africa. No active European leader had announced their attendance until last week.
The United States announced that it will be represented by First Lady Jill Biden, wife of the president, following the friction between the Administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador and the US ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, over the approval of the controversial judicial reform. Canada, the third partner of the North American Free Trade Agreement (T-MEC), will be represented by Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister.
Bolivian Luis Arce and Paraguayan Santiago Peña complete the list of South American leaders. Argentine Javier Milei, who has had clashes with López Obrador’s government in recent weeks, has not announced whether he will attend the meeting. There is also no representation from Venezuela so far, following the turbulent electoral process at the end of July.
Among the Central American leaders, Bernardo Arévalo of Guatemala, Xiomara Castro of Honduras and the Prime Minister of Belize, John Briceño, have confirmed their positions. Salvadoran Nayib Bukele, Nicaraguan Daniel Ortega and Costa Rican Rodrigo Chaves have not announced whether they will attend the inauguration in Mexico City. In addition to the Cuban delegation, Dominican President Luis Abinader heads the representation of the Caribbean, where Dominica, Haiti and Saint Lucia have announced that they will have representatives at the highest level. Ghana and Libya will send their presidents, while the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic will send its prime minister. Castro and Haitian Régine Abraham, head of the transitional council in Haiti, are the only women who appear on the list.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmayer has delegated the representation of his country to former President Christian Wulff. The transition team said that four vice-presidents and 17 representatives at ministerial level will be at the ceremony, although it did not specify which countries. The list is completed by 10 deputy ministers (undersecretaries), 10 heads of international organizations and other special guests, as well as diplomatic representatives and ambassadors.
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