nhboy
Ubi bene ibi patria
" Since Ronald Reagan was first elected, in 1980, every new American President has met with his Mexican counterpart shortly after winning the White House. Reagan travelled to Mexico before his swearing in and welcomed the Mexican President to Washington later that year. George H. W. Bush met with Carlos Salinas de Gortari, in Houston, in November, 1988, before either man was sworn in as President. Bill Clinton met with President de Gortari, in Austin, before Clinton’s Inauguration. George W. Bush, who already had a relationship with President Vicente Fox, made Mexico his first foreign destination as President. Obama met with President Felipe Calderon, in Washington, shortly before his swearing in.
Despite his well-known hostility toward Mexico, Donald Trump planned on keeping this tradition alive. Last Saturday, in his first public announcement from the White House, Sean Spicer, Trump’s press secretary, noted that Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto would visit Trump on January 31st for a meeting “on trade, immigration and security.” (This was after Spicer finished berating the press for accurately reporting on the relatively small crowd size at Trump’s Inauguration.)
This week, Peña Nieto dispatched several ministers to lay the groundwork for the summit, including Luis Videgaray, his new secretary of foreign affairs. Last fall, Videgaray, then the finance minister, and one of the only people in Peña Nieto’s administration with links to the Trump campaign, recommended that Peña Nieto invite Trump to Mexico. Trump’s visit became such an embarrassment to the unpopular Mexican government that Peña Nieto was forced to sack Videgaray.
But after Trump won, Videgaray was welcomed back into the government in his current role. “He was the only one who had diplomatic ties to the Trump Administration,” an official at the Mexican Embassy noted.
On Wednesday, when Videgaray and his colleagues came to the White House for a day of meetings with Jared Kushner and other senior Trump aides, Trump signed one executive order calling for “the immediate construction of a physical wall on the southern border” and another greatly expanding the categories of undocumented immigrants who will be prioritized for deportation. The Embassy official said the team of diplomats at the White House was furious and despondent at the timing. “They were like, ‘What the #### are we going to negotiate?’ ” the official said. “ ‘You’ve done the job. What are we going to negotiate if you’ve signed this? What’s wrong with you?’ ”
Peña Nieto made an emotional televised statement to his country on Wednesday evening condemning Trump’s executive orders. “Mexico will not pay for any wall,” he said. He promised to turn Mexico’s fifty consulates in the United States into “true ramparts in defense of migrant rights.” "
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/donald-trump-blows-up-the-u-s-mexico-relationship
Despite his well-known hostility toward Mexico, Donald Trump planned on keeping this tradition alive. Last Saturday, in his first public announcement from the White House, Sean Spicer, Trump’s press secretary, noted that Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto would visit Trump on January 31st for a meeting “on trade, immigration and security.” (This was after Spicer finished berating the press for accurately reporting on the relatively small crowd size at Trump’s Inauguration.)
This week, Peña Nieto dispatched several ministers to lay the groundwork for the summit, including Luis Videgaray, his new secretary of foreign affairs. Last fall, Videgaray, then the finance minister, and one of the only people in Peña Nieto’s administration with links to the Trump campaign, recommended that Peña Nieto invite Trump to Mexico. Trump’s visit became such an embarrassment to the unpopular Mexican government that Peña Nieto was forced to sack Videgaray.
But after Trump won, Videgaray was welcomed back into the government in his current role. “He was the only one who had diplomatic ties to the Trump Administration,” an official at the Mexican Embassy noted.
On Wednesday, when Videgaray and his colleagues came to the White House for a day of meetings with Jared Kushner and other senior Trump aides, Trump signed one executive order calling for “the immediate construction of a physical wall on the southern border” and another greatly expanding the categories of undocumented immigrants who will be prioritized for deportation. The Embassy official said the team of diplomats at the White House was furious and despondent at the timing. “They were like, ‘What the #### are we going to negotiate?’ ” the official said. “ ‘You’ve done the job. What are we going to negotiate if you’ve signed this? What’s wrong with you?’ ”
Peña Nieto made an emotional televised statement to his country on Wednesday evening condemning Trump’s executive orders. “Mexico will not pay for any wall,” he said. He promised to turn Mexico’s fifty consulates in the United States into “true ramparts in defense of migrant rights.” "
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/donald-trump-blows-up-the-u-s-mexico-relationship
