According to Pompeo, Ebrard was concerned about one thing above all: the political impact of the concession in Mexico. So that the Mexican government could save appearances, he asked that the agreement, reached in private, not be announced in public. “I don’t care what you do there,” Pompeo replied.
Pompeo reveals that Ebrard accepted the agreement because stopping the flow of migrants through Mexico (even if it was with a cruel measure like Remain in Mexico) was also in the interest of the Mexican government. “Marcelo knew the importance of discouraging migration,” says Pompeo.
In the end, Pompeo hints, everyone won. “The Mexican government could look good. It could complain about our policy and pretend that it had not accepted and endorsed it,” he writes.
And then he ends with a praise in a Trumpist tone: “(Ebrard’s) diplomatic skills in defense of his country were truly magnificent,” he says.
This confirms, in the version of Donald Trump’s key man in foreign policy, that the lopezobadorista government accepted unprecedented impositions, based on blackmail and threats (such as closing the border).
In Pompeo’s words: “Mexico doubled down against ‘El Norte’.”
As if that were not enough, in the book, Pompeo says that the negotiation with Ebrard was behind the back of the Mexican ambassador, Martha Bárcena. Pompeo suggests that the ambassador would have opposed the imposition of “Remain in Mexico.” Last night, the ambassador confirmed Pompeo’s version to me.
