During a hearing at the Capitol, US officials and Republican lawmakers questioned Mexico’s foreign policy. Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar asked Claudia Sheinbaum to “stop allowing dictatorships” in the region.
MADRID, Spain.- The United States asked the Mexican Government to reconsider its political and diplomatic support for the Cuban regime, considering that the president’s foreign policy Claudia Sheinbaum towards Latin America is not aligned with the values that Washington claims to share with Mexico.
The statement was made during a hearing of the Subcommittee for the Western Hemisphere of the House of Representatives, held on Capitol Hill. In that space, the deputy undersecretary of the State Department for the region, Katherine Dueholm, recognized that there is bilateral cooperation between both countries in different areas, but stressed that this relationship faces tensions due to the position of the Mexican Government towards Havana.
Dueholm expressed that the United States considers it necessary for Mexico to assume a “more constructive” regional role consistent with the defense of democracy and human rights in the hemisphere. The official questioned whether, under the principle of non-intervention, the Mexican Executive maintains a close relationship with the Government of Miguel Díaz-Canel, which Washington continues to describe as an authoritarian regime.
The call from the State Department occurs in a context of growing political pressure from sectors of the US Congress. In the same hearing, Republican congresswoman María Elvira Salazar reinforced criticism against Mexican foreign policy and explicitly demanded that Mexico stop supporting the dictatorships of Cuba and Venezuela.
Salazar pointed out as examples of this support the shipment of fuel to the Island and the bilateral agreements with the Cuban Government to recruiting doctorsinitiatives that end up benefiting the regimes and not their people.
In her speech, the legislator warned that Mexico is going through serious internal problems and that its foreign policy cannot be separated from that context.
“Mexico faces a crisis of drugs, violence and corruption. President Sheinbaum faces a dilemma: support freedom and democracy or facilitate dictators… The Western Hemisphere needs leaders, not spectators,” said the congresswoman.
Salazar insisted on the strategic relevance of Mexico for the region and for the United States. “Mexico is our closest neighbor, and none of us are going anywhere. Today, during the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hearing on the Western Hemisphere, I sent a clear message to President Claudia Sheinbaum: history is watching us. Stop allowing dictatorships in Venezuela and Cuba.”
While pressure increases from Washington, Sheinbaum has reiterated his rejection of external interventions. On Wednesday, he urged the United Nations to intervene in the face of escalating tensions between the United States and Venezuela and offered mediation from Mexico.
