Luis Ayllón
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, will visit Mexico tomorrow, Wednesday, one month after the Mexican President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, launched his latest verbal offensive against Spain.
Albares has a busy schedule that includes a meeting with his Mexican counterpart, Marcelo Ebrard, but not being received by López Obrador. His agenda does not include a meeting with the Mexican leader.
It is quite common for Mexican foreign ministers to be received by His Majesty the King on the occasion of their visits to Spain for a courtesy meeting, and for Mexican heads of state to similarly receive Spanish foreign ministers travelling to Mexico, given the intensity of the relations that have traditionally existed between the two countries, both affective and economic. More than 200,000 Spaniards live in Mexico and 7,000 Spanish companies operate in the country, employing 300,000 Mexicans.
The arrival of López Obrador, in 2018, as head of the Mexican state marked a turning point in these relations, due to the continuous attacks that the president has been launching against Spain, which began with a demand to the King to apologise for the Spanish conquest five hundred years ago.
On 9 February, the Mexican leader proposed a “pause” in relations with Spain, accusing Spanish companies of having profited in collusion with previous Mexican governments. López Obrador’s statements were rejected by the Spanish government, which a few days earlier had given a sign of its desire to repair relations by giving the go-ahead, after a long period of waiting, to the ambassador appointed by the president -Quirino Ordaz- to head the diplomatic representation in Madrid.
Albares’ visit is intended to help restore bilateral relations, and he will discuss the matter with his Mexican counterpart, Marcelo Ebrard, whose department is concerned about López Obrador’s outbursts. In mid-January, as The Diplomat reported, the State Secretary for Ibero-America, Juan Fernández-Trigo, made a trip to Mexico, which was not publicised by the Foreign Ministry, with the same objective.
Fernández-Trigo was received by Ebrard and subsequently the Mexican foreign minister spoke with Albares during the inauguration of the new Honduran president, a meeting that cleared the way for the new ambassador to be granted the green light.
In addition to his meeting tomorrow with Ebrard, in which he will sign several bilateral memorandums of understanding, Albares has on his agenda an event at the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in which businessmen from both countries will participate.
Afterwards, he will go to the Mexican Senate, where he will hold a meeting with the President, Olga María del Carmen Sánchez Cordero, and the Board of Coordinators. He is also scheduled to meet with the head of the Mexico City Government, Claudia Sheinbaum, and to sign the renewal of the loan agreement for the Spanish Cultural Centre in Mexico.
He will also take part in an event with Spanish exiles at the Ateneo Español and will give a speech at the Colegio de México, an institution created by Spanish intellectuals after their exile. The day will conclude with a reception for representatives of the Spanish community.
