Ambassador Ken Salazar (Alamosa, 67) pauses in front of a photograph of historic peasant leader César Chávez as he arrives at his residence in Mexico City.
The US diplomat carefully observes, for the first time, the image captured by photographer Alan Pogue in which Chávez gives a speech on the rights of agricultural workers in 1978. It is Wednesday and Salazar receives from Washington this and other pieces of art that will decorate residence while he is ambassador to Mexico.
The selection speaks to his interests: Chicano art, Mexican muralists, and some panoramic photographs of the desert routes along which migrants cross the border into the United States.
The veteran politician from Colorado has been in Mexico for nine months and since then he has mediated between the administrations of Joe Biden and Andrés Manuel López Obrador on all kinds of issues: from regional migration plans, through a new security strategy, and even the energy reform of the Mexican president.
Salazar frequently goes to the National Palace to express directly to the president the concerns of the White House and the progress of the bilateral relationship, which turns 200 in December.
The ambassador has returned optimistic from the Summit of the Americas, which was held in Los Angeles, and takes a few minutes to talk with EL PAÍS about the agreements to order migration in America, border security and the government's energy plans Mexican.
Ask.
At the Summit of the Americas there were relevant results, but a fundamental one has been migration.
What is the perspective that the Administration is taking on the subject from this moment on?
Response.
The Summit was historic.
And one of the things that was enunciated was the Los Angeles declaration, which is an acknowledgment by 20 leaders of the nations of the Americas that we need a new agreement for migration in this hemisphere.
So we are working on all aspects to create a new system for migration.
This system has several components.
One of them is the control of the borders of each country, because that is required.
Another is to see how migrants can find jobs in a legal way without entering the migrant corridor, which is a path now dominated by organized crime.
Q.
Border security is one of the aspects on which the strategy of the new Bicentennial Understanding has focused, for example.
What needs to be reinforced in terms of border and security?
A.
On the northern border many things are required to ensure that we are going to be successful.
The first thing is that migrants do not have to enter through the migrant corridor because they will have a legal way to enter the United States or to come to Mexico, or go to Canada.
The second thing is that we have to break the chains of criminality.
And we have been working together with Mexico to do that, we have the cases and the investigations.
The third thing is to ensure that when we have opportunities to receive migrants, it is with jobs.
It is a plan that considers all the factors.
We have to do even more.
P.
Homicides in Mexico continue to increase and there is concern from the United States about the issue. What is your perspective on such a complex problem?
R.
The understanding between the United States and Mexico is that we have to have shared security.
Nothing else can be obtained in the United States or in Mexico because weapons, drugs and crime exist on both sides of the border, and we have to solve them between the two nations.
We recognize how difficult this is, because it has been a problem for a long time.
We are working closely with the Mexican government to see how the violence can be resolved, how it can be reduced, and the result will be seen over time.
There are different realities in different parts of Mexico, there are States where there are more difficulties.
We are, always with respect for sovereignty, helping Mexico.
There are resources and efforts to reduce violence.
Ambassador Ken Salazar poses at his residence in Mexico City. Mónica González Islas
P.
We have seen you these months very involved in the energy sector, first, with the electricity reform proposal and then with the issue of renewable energies.
What is the position that he maintains against López Obrador's energy plans?
A.
We see an opportunity for renewable energy and the need to deal effectively with climate change.
We work with the Mexican Government to promote renewable energy.
That is the future of Mexico and the United States.
We have to have an integration on energy that gives power to the economy.
There were 17 companies that had investments in Mexico, but they had stopped for different reasons and then the president [López Obrador] agreed to hold meetings with these companies to listen to them and try to solve the problem they brought.
We have been quite successful, investments of up to 30,000 million dollars are going to be made and they are going to be protected by these meetings that we have had.
P.
The president has warned that he could take some companies to international arbitration.
Do you perceive a certain hostility towards US companies that want to invest in Mexico?
R.
I am sure that what Mexico requires is a business climate that attracts foreign investment.
We spend a lot of time trying to see how investment is brought to Mexico and how to protect it, because we know that the economies of the United States and Mexico are already well integrated and will be more integrated in the future.
There are legal protections and other international arrangements, each company has its rights and the Government also has rights under those laws.
Not everyone has to go to court.
Q.
What do you think of the current climate to invest in Mexico?
R.
The leaders of the economy and investment funds see Mexico as a place where they can and want to invest.
We are working so that when these investments are made, they can be made safely and are protected.
Q.
There is some criticism about the frequency with which you visit the National Palace in your role as ambassador...
A.
My job as ambassador is to advance the relationship between the United States and Mexico in the best way I can.
And that's what I do.
The more I talk to the president and his cabinet, the easier it is for me to move forward on those issues.
We don't always agree on the way things look, but the relationship between the United States and Mexico is forever.
I also spend a good deal of time in all US government agencies, including the White House.
Here I go to the Palace and I have also visited 20 States in the last nine months.
Criticism doesn't matter to me, because I'm going to be me.
P.
Are there already plans for the meeting of Presidents Biden and López Obrador in July in Washington?
R.
The day has not yet been set and the agenda is not closed.
But I think it's going to be a good meeting.
Q.
Is it difficult to convince President López Obrador to go to Washington?
R.
He does not like to leave the country, but he goes because of the respect he has for President Biden and the relationship between the United States and Mexico.
He has left the country a few times and has gone to the United States three times.
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