The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, begins a tour of Colombia and Chile this Friday, a trip with which he seeks to disseminate his message of integration in Latin America, a region that suffers from divisions, including those caused by the Mexican president himself.
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“López Obrador intends to bring an image of regional leadership and Latin American union to these countries, but there are foreign policy issues that divide the presidents, even if they identify with the left. In addition, there is the rise of the right,” says William Jensen , associate of the Mexican Council of International Affairs (Comexi).
López Obrador will meet this Friday in Cali with his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, with whom he will also participate on Saturday in the Latin American and Caribbean Conference on Drugs.
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He will then leave for Santiago de Chile, where he will talk on Sunday with the president, Gabriel Boric, and will participate on Monday in the 50th anniversary of President Salvador Allende (1970-1973), whose death the Mexican president assures was a “murder” although Suicide is officially considered the cause.
The trip draws attention because It is only the sixth tour that he has made during his almost five years in office, in which he has only been to the United States four times and Central America and Cuba once, in May 2022..
With his visit, López Orador seeks to strengthen ties with leaders “like” his vision in the region, considers José Joel Peña, an academic expert on Mexican foreign policy at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
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“The tour is due, in principle, to the ideological affinity that exists between the three presidents. Even though each one has implemented different public policies, there is agreement on core issues such as the fight against drug abuse and illicit trafficking and irregular migration “, exposes.
In addition to the chancellor, Alicia Bárcena, López Obrador will travel on a Mexican Air Force plane with the Secretary of National Defense, Luis Cresencio Sandoval, and the Secretary of the Navy, José Rafael Ojeda.
Thus, Professor Peña suggests that “everything indicates that the intention is to propose that the military be used to stop illicit drug trafficking”.
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Regional unit?
The Mexican president insisted in his morning press conference that he “always seeks the integration of the entire continent”, but in the same conference he revealed that on the trip he will evade the airspace of Peru to avoid a “nonsense” of the Government of Dina Boluarte , which he considers “spurious”.
“Since we do not want to be fooled, because as it is public and notorious we do not have good relations with the Government of Peru, we are not going to request to go through the airspace, we are going to take a detour to get to Santiago de Chile,” he said. on Wednesday.
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In this context, Professor Peña cites the conflict that broke out in the Pacific Alliance this year, when López Obrador refused to hand over the agency’s temporary presidency to Peru.
“I would dare to point out that the foreign policy actions of the federal government towards the region do not contribute to its integration, despite the fact that President Obrador himself pronounces himself in favor of economic integration,” he indicates.
In addition, The academic points out that the president seeks the integration “of the entire continent, that is, he includes the United States and Canada in this process, which obviously many Central and South American countries do not like.”
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An agenda of nuances
Despite being three of the most visible faces of the Latin American left, there are nuances, with foreign policy being the most evident, says Jensen.
Colombia and Chile have condemned the situation of political prisoners in Nicaragua, while Boric has been forceful in his criticism of Venezuela and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, issues on which López Obrador has shown ambiguity, adds the Comexi expert.
In addition, when it comes to internal politics, Petro and Boric have more liberal positions on social issues, such as drug regulation, aspects in which López Obrador is more conservative.
“Sometimes it tends to simplify and pigeonhole these leaders in the Latin American left, but the reality is that there are distinctions, although none is strong enough to cause friction,” says Jensen.
EFE
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