John Kerry speaks in Guelatao (Oaxaca State) during a ceremony for the birth of Benito Juárez, on March 21. Presidency (EFE)
"Thank you for your commitment to democracy, to peace and to the future."
This is how John Kerry, the White House advisor for Climate Change, thanked for having been chosen as the special guest to commemorate the birth of Benito Juárez this Tuesday.
Kerry has sought to iron out any rough edges and has not spared praise for the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, after several weeks of tensions between the two countries.
The former presidential candidate has highlighted the "special connection" between the two peoples and the "wisdom in leadership" of the Mexican president.
"United States and Mexico forever," the Democratic politician said in Spanish at the ceremony held in Guelatao, Oaxaca, in the south of the country.
"Our futures are united," said Kerry, who has celebrated the vocation of the Mexican president to break with the schemes of the past and his defense of "the interests of the people."
The message between the lines of the envoy of the Government of Joe Biden is that the channels of bilateral dialogue remain open, despite the exchange of accusations that López Obrador has had with several members of the most radical wing of the Republican Party and some Democratic leaders on security policy of his Administration.
Tensions with agencies such as the DEA and Cabinet members such as Secretary of State Anthony Blinken have also become evident.
Circumstances matter in the message: it took place in Mexico and before the eyes of López Obrador;
the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marcelo Ebrard, and the US Ambassador, Ken Salazar.
And the emissary also matters: Kerry is an experienced politician who has made at least six work tours in the Latin American country in recent years.
“Fascinated” was the word the former Secretary of State used to describe his journey through the winding mountains of Oaxaca to Guelatao, the homeland of Benito Juárez, one of the most claimed historical figures in the pantheon of the Mexican president.
Just hours before, López Obrador had come out in defense of former President Donald Trump in the face of a possible arrest related to the case of porn actress Stormy Daniels.
"We are not sucking our thumb, it is so that it does not appear on the ballot," he said in his conference.
The Mexican president has said that he has also suffered "the fabrication of a crime" with the aim of diminishing his political aspirations.
“He is completely undemocratic”, he has added.
Daniels said Trump gave her $130,000 in exchange for not talking about an alleged affair they had in 2006, a year after he married her wife Melania Trump.
The bribe, according to Daniels' version, took place before the 2016 elections, which brought the Republican magnate to power.
López Obrador's statements also came one day after the report on the human rights situation in the country, published by the State Department, was released in Mexico.
The document indicates that torture, extrajudicial executions and forced disappearances are committed by the Mexican security agencies.
In parallel with the fact that he has thrown darts from the presidential rostrum at his critics on the other side of the border, López Obrador has had meetings with US congressmen and officials from both countries have also held high-level meetings to seek agreement on security matters.
"I took the audacity to invite John Kerry because we have not always had differences with the United States government, there have been moments of cooperation and friendship," said the president after introducing the US official.
Kerry, however, came not just as a career politician, but as an environmental specialist.
The official came to talk about clean energy and projects against climate change such as Plan Sonora, which received attention at the so-called
Summit of the Three Amigos
at the beginning of the year.
Seeing the resistance of the Mexican Government to transition to renewable sources, Canada and the United States sought to highlight the economic and social benefits of such measures.
The Sonora Plan seeks to take advantage of the geographic proximity of the States on both sides of the border, strengthen regional supply chains and attract investment, while mitigating the effects of global warming.
“We all want to live in peace and actually live,” Kerry said of combating climate change.
“The future that is built on the respect that we must all share for this planet, in which we live, for our common interests and life itself,” she added.
The official is scheduled to return to the United States this Tuesday.
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