The diplomat and former representative of Mexico to the United Nations Juan Ramon de la Fuente will head the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE), the future president of Mexico announced last Thursday, Claudia Sheinbaum, the first woman who will hold that position in the North American country.
De la Fuente, who represented Mexico at the UN between 2018 and 2023, is a veteran Mexican politician and was also rector of the Autonomous University of Mexico and Secretary of Health between 1994 and 1997.
However, in his role as Mexico’s ambassador to the UN, De la Fuente personified the Mexican government’s position on the Iran regimeto the abstain from a key vote at a time when Iranian women took to the streets to protest after the murder of Mahsa Amini.
Iran was expelled in mid-December 2022 from the Commission on the Status of Women of the United Nations, the organization’s main gender body, in response to the repression of protests sparked by the death of the young woman who had been arrested for allegedly carrying poorly wearing the veil.
At the proposal of the United States, the members of the United Nations Economic and Social Committee approved the measure with 29 votes in favor, 8 against and 16 abstentions; Among the latter was Mexico, which caused a great variety of critics against the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Among the votes against were China, Russia and Nicaraguawhile Mexico joined Congo, India and Thailand in abstaining. The Mexican Foreign Ministry explained that it abstained because it considers that withdrawing a member state from a multilateral forum “did not contribute to dialogue or international cooperation.”
After abstention, the former president of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), Jesus Ortega Martinezpointed out that in Iran “there is a system of oppression supported by a religious morality and a discriminatory regime on women, and despite this, Mexico at the UN refrains from condemning it.” He assured that said action is embarrassing for international politics.
The mayor of Álvaro Obregón, Lía Limón García, He also assured that the country’s position was shameful and added that it is “congruent with the misogyny of President López Obrador”.
Mexico’s call for attention was joined by journalists, international analysts and human rights activists such as Genaro Lozano, Agustín AntonettiGabriela Frías, Jacqueline L’Hoist, José Díaz Briseño, among others.
De la Fuente, 72, will thus replace the current chancellor, Alicia Barcenawho will continue in the cabinet having been appointed as Secretary of the Environment.
On October 1, when she takes office, Sheinbaum will become the first president in the history of Mexico by replacing the current president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The next Mexican foreign minister assured that “the international agenda will have continuity,” while committing to underline Mexico’s “long diplomatic tradition of excellence and as a mediating country.”
“The international agenda will continue because there are many very good things that must be consolidated and maintained. And also incorporate some changes depending on the circumstances,” said the former representative of Mexico to the United Nations.
“In the international arena there are many challenges, but we are prepared to face them intelligently and safely. And always looking above all, and first of all, for the interests of the people of Mexico,” he assured reporters.
In this sense, he highlighted that Mexico is “a country that has great international prestige” and with “a foreign policy that is based on very clear constitutional principles,” which “allows us to have friendly relations with all countries of the world.”
“We have a long diplomatic tradition of excellence, as a mediating country, and of course we are going to honor those traditions,” he stated.
Among the challenges, De la Fuente cited “the defense of the rights and needs of Mexicans “in the United States and other places in the world.”
The future Mexican chancellor will take office shortly before elections in the United Statesthe country’s first trading partner, and in the middle of a complex regional migration crisis.
Also with Open diplomatic crises with two Latin American countries: Ecuadorwith whom López Obrador broke relations after the assault on the Mexican Embassy in Quito, last April, and Peruwhere the authorities declared the Mexican ambassador in that country persona non grata at the end of last year.
(With information from EFE)
