Mexico is not going to tell other nations what to do: Marcelo Ebrard

Foreign Secretary, Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon affirmed that he has the obligation to deliver to his successor in the Mexican Foreign Ministry, the right to autonomy of Mexico’s foreign policy safely; however, he stressed that this does not mean that the country does not have opinions and concerns about what is happening in other nations and does not express them.

During a conversation with the journalist from the American magazine The New Yorker, Jon Lee Anderson, within the framework of the Dromofest activities, at Casa UC, Mexico City, he commented that, in the case of Nicaragua, they have told their government “ that We are very worried” and, in his capacity as chancellor, called the Mexican ambassador to that nation for consultations.

They know that we are very concerned that these things suddenly happen. We have an opinion, but we cannot intervene, ”he remarked.

The Mexican foreign minister was directly questioned about the emergence of authoritarian populist regimes through elections in the hemisphere. He stressed that Mexico must have a very clear position: you can have an opinion and we do, but – he emphasized – you cannot promote intervention in another country, under any circumstances.

“Any authorization to intervene is a danger. You have to convince, persuade.”

He also considered that international sanctions have been a disaster. And he asked what is the ethical limit for that.

He gave as an example that Cuba has been under sanctions for 61 years and immoralities have been committed, such as the one that represented not allowing diesel to reach the island in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, so that there would be electricity in hospitals. Therefore, Mexico made the decision to send fuel to that nation, he added.

In the case of the international questioning of the Venezuelan regime, he recalled that in the policy of the United States the idea was handled that they would carry out a coup d’état because they did not think so, which was even expressed by an adviser to the US president.

Given this, he added, “we, by definition, can never accompany that and the day we do it would be disastrous for Mexico, because it threatens its identity and essential ideas.”

Instead, he added, Mexico proposed building a dialogue between the Venezuelan government and its opposition to try to reduce the incentives for tougher actions against the country, such as the application of sanctions or seeking to isolate it internationally.

He recalled that there were two rounds of rapprochement between the parties.

In the case of Cuba, he said that in the logic of Mexico, what the administration of President Barack Obama was doing was right, in the sense of trying to normalize the relationship and that the Cubans decide how they govern.

“Us we cannot go and intervene in your country and tell them what they have to do,” he insisted.

In the case of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, he recalled that the Mexican government condemned it and proposed the creation of a humanitarian corridor, in addition to the fact that he has always stressed that mediation will be needed.

In his opinion, the best thing would be to “support” the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, with a mediation group that accompanies him.

On the Chinese factor in international geopolitics and the position of the United States in a national security document in which the Asian power is considered “a great threat”, he said that we will have to be attentive to how this attention that came to to stay.

“Mexico has a good relationship with China (…) it is a country that interests us, it is a country from which we import more or less 80,000 million dollars and we have a good relationship with China and we will continue to have it.”

The Mexican foreign minister indicated that after the pandemic and with the “geopolitical stress” generated by the conflict between Ukraine and Russia and the growing tension between the United States and China (which, in his opinion, has limits), Mexico is going to have an impact favorable economic situation with the relocation of companies, which we are already seeing.

Faced with this situation, he said, Mexico must establish an international position that is to have its own international policy and, at the same time, a very good relationship with the United States.