The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, assured this Wednesday that his government is going to “give time” in relations with Spain. “A pause to respect us and not see us as a land of conquest. We want to have good relations with all the governments of the world, but we do not want them to steal from us, just as the Spanish do not want to be robbed from any country. And they do well. Well, neither do we.”
During his daily conference, known as the morning, López Obrador commented on aspects of the energy reform when he referred to relations with Spain and charged several companies. “I would like it to take us until they are normalized [las relaciones]. I think it will suit us Mexicans and Spaniards. Of course to the people of Mexico and the people of Spain”, he said, to continue: “It was a conspiracy from above, an economic, political promiscuity, in the leadership of the governments of Mexico and Spain, but as during three six-year terms in a row . And Mexico took the worst part, they looted us. So, it is better to give us some time, a pause, maybe when the government changes, relations will already be established. I wish that when I am not here they are not the same as they were before, “continued the Mexican president, who has focused on his predecessors:”[Felipe] Calderón had Repsol, Iberdrola comes from [Vicente] Fox”.
Surprise for some “inexplicable” statements
The head of Spanish diplomacy, José Manuel Albares, has been surprised by the statements of the Mexican president. Asked in Lyon (France), where he is attending a meeting of European ministers, Albares has alleged that he was verifying exactly what López Obrador’s words had been and has stressed that they must have taken place in an informal context and with questions from journalists, since Mexico does not No official note has been made public nor has the Spanish government received any communication in this regard, so the Mexican president should be asked what he meant, reports Miguel Gonzalez.
However, he has expressed his “surprise” at statements that, in his opinion, contradict those made a week ago by López Obrador himself and what Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard told him, with whom he had a “meeting cordial” last January 27 in Tegucigalpa, where both coincided in the inauguration of the new Honduran president, Xiomara Castro. In Honduras, Albares informed Ebrard of the granting of the placet to his country’s new ambassador to Spain, Quirino Ordaz, which had been pending for four months, for which he publicly thanked.
The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs has underlined that “the relationship between Spain and Mexico is a strategic relationship that goes beyond sudden declarations or specific words” and that, far from being on pause, the flow of investments in both directions has not more than growing in recent years and it is the obligation of both governments to accompany these business relationships. In a firmer tone, he added that “the Spanish Government has not taken any action that could justify a response of this type” and that what it will do, in any case, “is to defend the interests of Spain in any circumstance and in the face of any country”.
The statements of this Wednesday in the morning relations with Spain are tense again, marked by the letter that the Mexican president sent to Felipe VI in 2019 demanding that he apologize for the abuses committed in the Conquest, a claim that was not addressed by Spanish diplomacy due to the terms in which it was directed, and that the Mexican president took very badly.
Beyond the letter, during the three years that López Obrador has been in power, he has launched harsh attacks on various Spanish companies, especially energy companies, from his daily conference. Every time the Mexican president brings up the old businesses of some companies, such as Iberdrola or Repsol, with previous governments, the speech becomes cloudy and diplomatic relations seem to crack. The president resents again and again the deals that the big energy and tourism companies did in Mexican territory with the help of presidents like Calderón, Fox and others. “They were self-conscious, fascinated with the Monarchy,” he said this Wednesday. And he has had, as always, laudatory words towards the Spanish people, “who deserve all respect.” “It is a hard-working town, good, extraordinary”, he added.
In a cryptic message, the Mexican president has spoken of “waiting”, of “going slowly” with Spanish diplomacy. “It is convenient for us to give ourselves some time for what happened”, in reference to the commercial relations between the Spanish multinationals and the Mexican state oil company, Pemex, for example, where the president has reported some terrible deals in which the state company came out with many losses. . Asked by the press about what exactly his words implied regarding the relationship with Spain, he said: “It’s just a comment, a talk here, a conversation. That I can no longer comment? ”, He has smiled at him. And he has added that he tells all those details so that the Mexican population knows what happened in the six-year terms that have preceded him. But he has denied taking any formal action: “No, no, that cannot be done, imagine the internationalists, the diplomats, if they question me because I am from Tepetitán, a villager…”
“Do not confuse governments with a nation”, the president pointed out. “This is a thing of those above, of the economic and political leadership, which are the same, they are mixed.” And once again it has evidenced the good relationship between Mexico and the Spanish people “persecuted by Francoism”, the thousands of Republicans who arrived protected by the reception measures of former President Lázaro Cárdenas: “Prepared people came who contributed to the development of the country and who they have our respect, also the Spaniards over there”.
With the new ambassador Quirino Ordaz, López Obrador spoke of calming the waters and restoring good relations with Spain. But the delay of the Spanish Government to give the plácet to the diplomat made the atmosphere rarefied. It took five months for the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to accept Ordaz, a former PRI member whose appointment has also brought conflicts in Mexico’s internal politics. Finally, Foreign Affairs confirmed the appointment and the Mexican Foreign Minister spoke of the “good offices and sympathy for Mexico” of Minister José Manuel Albares.
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