Ebrard asks Blinken to respect sovereignty after saying about plan B

From the editorial

Newspaper La Jornada
Friday March 3, 2023, p. fifteen

In the context of the Group of 20 (G-20) summit being held in New Delhi, India, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard met yesterday with his peers, including the United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, to who stated, in his own words, that mutual respect for sovereignties and internal legislative processes is essential in the bilateral relationship.

For his part, Blinken said on social networks that he debated with Ebrard about the importance of institutions for a strong democracy.

The meeting and the exchange of messages took place after President Andrés Manuel López Obrador criticized on Tuesday the implicit support of the US State Department for the rally held on Sunday in the Zócalo against the electoral reform. The president accused Blinken of assuming interfering positions and meddling in national affairs.

Blinken, who usually refers to Ebrard as his good friendas he did on his most recent visit to Mexico last January, reviewed on his Twitter account the meeting with the Mexican foreign minister, whom he referred to only as @M_Ebrard.

In his message he stated: At the #G20 Foreign Ministers meeting, @M_Ebrard and I discussed the progress made in achieving the goals of our High Level Economic Dialogue, cooperation in the fight against fentanyl, the importance of institutions for a strong democracy and the possibility of launching a line of work of the G-20 against narcotics.

Hours later, Ebrard published a photograph of the meeting on his social media accounts where he highlighted that Mexico has always been respectful of the legislative processes in the US and demands the same respect for ours. Mutual respect for our sovereignties is an essential matter. He specified that in the conversation they also addressed the fight against fentanyl and other issues.

According to information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the meeting of foreign ministers of the G-20, Ebrard warned that the war in Ukraine will cause an oversupply of arms, the trafficking of which must be avoided. Mexico has emphasized the need to combat illegal trafficking, diversion, unauthorized export, and illicit trade in small arms and light weapons.the official warned.

He said that the fight against the international supply chains of illicit drugs, including fentanyl, requires a framework of international cooperation to combat everything from production to trafficking and illicit profits.

(With information from Arturo Sánchez Jiménez)