Former Mexican President Felipe Calderón (2006-2012) obtained a permit to live in Spain thanks to former Spanish leader José María Aznar (1996-2004), according to what the newspaper El País published on Thursday.
Calderón, from the right-wing National Action Party (PAN), obtained a two-year residence and employment visa in October (renewable for another five) and will work at the Atlantic Institute of Government, an institution that Aznar, from the conservative Popular Party, founded in 2014, according to sources consulted by the aforementioned newspaper.
The residence and employment authorization as a highly qualified professional obtained by Calderón allows a foreign worker residing outside of Spain to carry out a work activity for which it is required to have a higher education qualification or, exceptionally, with a minimum of five years of experience professional that can be considered comparable, according to the Government.
The former presidents of Mexico and Spain, Felipe Calderón (left) and José María Aznar (right) at the Francisco de Vitoria University, on April 28, 2022 in Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain.Gustavo Valiente / Europa Press via Getty Images
One of the requirements to obtain the permit is to demonstrate that “the occupation that you are going to carry out in the company is included in the
catalog of occupations that are difficult to cover
that the Government publishes quarterly.
According to the latest resolution, among the professions in which there is a lack of manpower are: professional athletes, sports trainers, naval refrigerators, merchant ship chief engineers, naval engineers, coastal mechanics, naval mechanics, merchant ship pilots, pursers of ships, merchant navy radio officers, ship's cooks, passenger ship auxiliaries, ship's stewards, ship's stewards, boilermakers, ship's engine oilers, specialized ship firefighters, deck boatswains (except Fishing), seamen of deck (except Fishing) and deckhands.
The former Mexican president told El País that he works as a "consultant and lecturer."
This summer an immigration reform came into force in Spain that makes the processes for granting work authorizations more flexible and that, among other things, will change the design of said catalogue, but until now it has not been updated.
"Recently, the Atlantic Institute of Government, through its president, José María Aznar, has invited him to collaborate in various academic projects aimed at examining the political and economic situation of Ibero-America," says the note sent to the aforementioned medium through a collaborator.
The formalization of Calderón's entry into Spain is pending but, according to the newspaper, his plan is to make Madrid his base for the next six months, although "he will continue to travel constantly to France and the Middle East," he adds.
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Calderón is remembered in Mexico for having started the war on drugs in 2012.
His Secretary of Public Security, Genaro García Luna, was accused of cooperating with the Sinaloa Cartel (a journalistic investigation linked Calderón himself to millions in payments from said drug cartel).
The leader of the PAN is the third former Mexican president to reside in Spain, according to what the aforementioned media published.
Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018) and Carlos Salinas de Gortari, both from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI, which ruled for 70 years).
Peña Nieto is investigated for federal electoral crimes, money laundering and illicit enrichment