Claudia Ruiz Massieu Salinas, Mexico’s Foreign Relations Secretary, reiterated that the change the country’s ambassador to the United States was due to one reason only: the shift that Republican hopeful Donald Trump had given to the electoral process.
During a private reunion with a parliamentary group from the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) in the senate, the chancellor acknowledged the work of former ambassador Miguel Basáñez Ebergenyi, of whom she said that he had the attributes to occupy the post of Mexico’s representative before its neighbor country.
Ruiz Massieu stated that, six or eight months ago, the government of Mexico took the pulse of the electoral process in the United States, with its own forms and procedures, and with a long path still ahead.
She pointed out that at that time there were many competing pre-candidates for both the Democratic and Republican parties, and it was difficult to foresee who could be the candidate finally elected in these parties.
However, she explained, the government of President Enrique Peña Nieto started to perceive that from a pool of 15 to 20 pre-candidates on from the Republican party, Donald Trump, has a rhetoric that pointedly questioned Mexican migrants to the United States.
“As part of our tradition, we do not comment on the internal politics of other countries and much less on electoral processes, nor does the government of the republic because it entails a public dialogue with a person from another country, due to opinions issued during the electoral process.”
Over time, she said, the government observed that not only was Trump consolidating his position as one of the strongest pre-candidates, but that the adversarial environment of the United States electoral campaign has trascended the electoral dynamic and the internal process of the Republican party, permeating American society and issuing forth inaccurate portrayals of Mexico and the Mexican community living in the United States.
“The government of Mexico needed to respond in a different manner to the one we were following. Evidently, the electoral process is still ongoing, it is still long and far from concluding and there isn’t a candidate yet.”
The meeting between the chancellor and the PRD senators was headed by the coordinator and deputy coordinator of the parliamentary group, Miguel Barbosa Huerta and Dolores Padierna Luna.
