Despite the complicated agenda, the meeting ended with smiles and hugs

Alonso Urrutia and Emir Olivares

Newspaper La Jornada
Wednesday, January 11, 2023, p. 5

With the protocol ahead and the smiles for the media diffusion in the National Palace, the leaders of North America put aside the conflicting edges of the trilateral relationship to celebrate the renewal of commitments in pursuit of a buoyant regional economy in this global world .

No claim, no hint of dissent, despite the complex framework of the relationship, even in areas such as drug trafficking or the always conflictive migratory phenomenon. Presidents Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Joe Biden, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, spoke of a society beyond the economic.

Almost five hours after the official reception at the National Palace, lunch and private conversations between the leaders and their entourage, a long message to the media came in the Patio de Honor. With a huge smile, López Obrador did not hide his satisfaction with the outcome of the summit, which made him transcend diplomatic forms to frank camaraderie with his visitors, to whom he demonstrated his affection with a hug.

The conference became a privileged space for the Mexican to vindicate before his counterparts his social policy as an all-terrain remedy, a route to mitigate poverty and violence, to try to slow down the growing migratory flows, containing them in the expelling regions, addressing the causes that originate them.

A vision of the migratory phenomenon that the Mexican president managed to place even in the joint declaration (we affirm our joint commitment to a safe, orderly and humane migration, summarized the statement). Historical reason for disputes between Mexico and the United States, this time the issue translated into mutual praise between López Obrador and the head of the White House.

Long seasoned in conferences, the man from Tabasco expanded, to the point of leaving Biden without time to answer questions from the press about the energy dispute, fentanyl and the impact of the recent arrest of Ovidio Guzmán, head of a cell of the Sinaloa cartel.

For the record, I want for the record that I don’t know what questions I stopped answering to the press, but I’ll be ready for later., Biden closed, by way of apology, before heading to take the last official photo of the meeting. An hour of message to the media and questions from the press was not enough to dispel doubts.

In the historic enclosure, lunch and private conversations were prolonged and the established times were bursting. With the program scheduled to end at 4:25 p.m., the meeting was extended until 6:00 p.m.

Caravans to Palace

Shortly before noon, the ostentatious black Cadillac in which Biden is transported left his hotel in Polanco to head to the National Palace, followed by a spectacular convoy of almost 50 US Secret Service vehicles. Minutes earlier, with a much more discreet security deployment, Trudeau went to the summit after his bilateral meeting with the US president.

At the gates of the National Palace, López Obrador and his wife, Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller, waited to successively receive the two pairs of guests.

First came Trudeau and his wife Sophie. While waiting for Biden’s arrival, the Mexican hosts took a brief tour of the Francisco I Madero museum with the Canadians. Gutiérrez Müller was in charge of explaining the relevance of the character in national history.

Minutes later, Biden and his wife Jill arrived. In the Patio de Honor of the National Palace, with their retinue witnessing the welcome protocol, the three leaders and their wives went to the small pavilion with a red carpet, typical of great occasions, to take the first of the official photographs of the top.

Biden left for his country around 7:30 p.m., aboard the Air Force One, from the Mexico City International Airport (AICM). Today López Obrador will have a bilateral meeting with Trudeau.

(With information from César Arellano)