Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum resumed her criticism this Friday of Isabel Díaz Ayuso’s tumultuous trip to Mexico, who left the country alleging supposed threats and harassment. “It was a failure,” the president concluded but not “because someone intervened to prevent her from carrying out her activities. We already said that was false,” Sheinbaum dismissed, who maintains that the problems arose from “glorifying the figure of Hernán Cortés.” “How do you think that will resonate in Mexico? That it will generate some link? Quite the opposite,” the Mexican leader criticized during her usual morning press conference.
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Sheinbaum stated that the visit of the president of the Community of Madrid “had the objective of speaking against the Government of Mexico.” However, she acknowledged the previous gestures of rapprochement by the Spanish Government and the Royal House. The president defended that there are messages that do generate a link between both countries, such as the approaches of the Spanish foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, and kings Felipe VI and Queen Letizia to events like the exhibition of indigenous women in Madrid; or her own visit to Barcelona (“to say where we come from”). The president warned, however, that despite those approaches, “there can still be certain differences.”
Ayuso’s arrival in Mexico was accompanied by some expectation. The agenda of her tour contemplated 10 days, a time that sparked criticism from her opposition in Madrid, reproaching her for abandoning her responsibilities for so long. Last Friday, when there were still five days left in the tour, her team issued a statement announcing the cancellation of the remainder of the trip and conveyed to this newspaper their concern for her safety and that she did not want to take more risks.
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That point, that of her supposed exposure, has been a constant criticism by Sheinbaum, who pointed out that the Madrid official was on vacation. “She hates Mexico and the Government of Mexico so much, but she spent 10 days on vacation. Let her come more, let her spend more vacation time here. We are an extraordinary country,” the Mexican president said on Thursday.
The tensions have not lost intensity despite Ayuso’s return to Madrid, who has again raised the flag of Hernán Cortés. Sheinbaum has maintained that the turbulent visit “caused many problems for the political party to which she belongs.” And she reiterated that the link between both countries “has to do with the cultural recovery of Mexico, with recognition, with dignity.”
