Mexico City, Q.R. — On Tuesday night, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain, José Manuel Albares Bueno, arrived in Mexico for work meetings. The Spanish foreign minister’s visit comes after Andrés Manuel López Obrador proposed a “pause” in the bilateral relationship in a new pulse to Spain.
Last month, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that Spanish companies have abused business and looted Mexico, later referring to his comments as a “fraternal protest”. Albares Bueno arrives amid tension and disagreements between the two nations. However, while in Mexico, he does not plan to meet with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
On Wednesday at 8:40 a.m., he will meet with the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Mexico and at 10:30, he will meet with Olga Sánchez Cordero and other members of the Political Coordination Board.
At noon he will meet with his Mexican counterpart, Marcelo Ebrard Casaubón, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE), with whom he will sign several memorandums.
Later in the day, he will meet with Claudia Sheinbaum, head of the Government of Mexico City, to renew the loan of the Spain Cultural Center located in the Historic Center. At five in the afternoon, he will be at El Colegio de México, where he will offer a speech and at 7:15 p.m., he is scheduled to meet with the Spanish community at the residence of Spain.
Yesterday, Ebrard confirmed the visit of the Spanish Foreign Minister on social media.
The minister’s trip seeks to highlight the “good relationship” between the two countries, especially between Albare and Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard and the will to continue strengthening bilateral ties, diplomatic sources told Europa Press.
“Right now our relations are not asking for a pause” but rather to “accelerate” said relationship, Albares maintained at the time, also emphasizing that “the government is going to defend its citizens and companies and the good name of Spain before anyone and at any situation”.
AMLO, who has maintained a tense relationship with Spain since taking office, was in favor of a “pause” on February 9, only to clarify the next day that he was not referring to breaking off relations.
“I did not speak of a break,” said the president in favor of “calming the relationship” so that Spain assumes that it cannot “plunder Mexico with impunity.” “They should even offer an apology. They haven’t, it doesn’t matter, but we are going to enter a new stage, slowly,” he said at the time.
The Mexican president has been highly critical of the Spanish colonial legacy, demanding on several occasions that Spain apologize for it. In this sense, he sent a letter to King Felipe VI in March 2019 demanding that “the Spanish State admit its historical responsibility” for the offenses committed during the conquest and “offer the appropriate political apologies or compensation”.
