The White House announced Wednesday that Jill Biden, the president’s wife, will lead the US delegation to Claudia Sheinbaum’s inauguration in Mexico. The first lady is the first name confirmed by the Biden administration to represent the United States at the October 1 ceremony in Mexico. “The full list of members of the delegation will be announced shortly,” the statement reads.
The announcement of Jill Biden’s attendance has been interpreted as a gesture of easing tensions between the two governments after turbulent weeks. The arrest in El Paso, Texas, of Mexican drug lords Ismael The May Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López, of the Sinaloa Cartel, in an operation without the participation of the Mexican government, led President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to publicly pressure his counterpart: “They have not given enough information.” The Attorney General’s Office (FGR) also accused its US counterpart of not sharing key elements of how the arrest was plotted.
Later, the relationship was put on hold with the US ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, for his criticism of judicial reform. At the end of August, the tension in the bilateral relationship reached its peak: “Pausing means that we are going to take our time,” López Obrador said of the diplomat, “how are we going to allow the ambassador to think that what we are doing is wrong? We are not going to tell him to leave the country, no, but we do have to read him the Constitution, which is like reading him the riot act.”
Jill Biden’s arrival at the inauguration aims to soften those edges with the incoming government of Claudia Sheinbaum. Since last year, the first lady has represented the US Executive in multilateral forums such as the UNESCO summit in Paris, or on her trips to Ukraine, Morocco, Jordan and Egypt. She also attended Mexico in January 2023, for the North American Leaders Summit, where despite the secondary role imposed on the presidents’ wives, this university professor also held meetings with Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller or entrepreneurs.
Less than two weeks before the change of government, Claudia Sheinbaum’s team continues to fine-tune the guest list for the inauguration of the first female president in the history of Mexico. After the controversy of some announcements, such as the invitation to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Sheinbaum has said that it will be this Wednesday when the confirmed names will be announced: “There are already several presidents, presidents who have confirmed that they are coming. Foreign ministers are also coming and then other representatives and ambassadors. There is a team coordinated by [el secretario de Exteriores] Juan Ramon de la Fuente who makes all the invitations.” For now, the president-elect has only confirmed that the president of Brazil, Lula da Silva, will be at the inauguration.
Asked about her government’s foreign policy, Sheinbaum has rejected the idea of traveling much outside of Mexico: “Our responsibility is here.” The president-elect does value attending some international events that she considers “important.” The first one she will have to make a decision about is the G-20 summit, which will take place in Brazil in November: “I am evaluating whether it is worth it, especially because of the dates because it is November 18. The president of Germany called us because he wants to come to Mexico, he wants to make a visit and of course we said yes and it is on those dates too, and then November 20 comes and we have to be here.”
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