Migration, regional integration and the importance of “unity between progressive governments” were among the issues Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Colombian President Gustavo Petro spoke about at a meeting in Mexico City on Monday.
The two leftist leaders met at the National Palace on Monday morning. It was the third time they’d met in as many months, after Petro traveled to Mexico for Sheinbaum’s inauguration in October and the two presidents participated in the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Brazil last month.
Platicamos con el presidente de Colombia, Gustavo Petro, sobre la importancia de la unidad entre los gobiernos progresistas, así como la unión de América Latina y el Caribe. pic.twitter.com/iMepHXkzkv
— Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo (@Claudiashein) December 16, 2024
This video published by Sheinbaum’s Twitter account Monday, doesn’t show any of the two leaders’ discussion but showed the relative informality of their visit, compared to formal state visits by world leaders.
“We spoke with the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, about the importance of unity between progressive governments, as well as the unity of Latin America and the Caribbean,” Sheinbaum wrote on social media on Monday in a post that included a video clip that demonstrated considerable warmth between the two presidents.
Petro’s office said in a statement that the Colombian president’s “official visit” to Mexico was aimed at strengthening “cooperation between both countries on historical, migratory and regional integration issues.”
During their meeting on Monday, the commitment of both Petro and Sheinbaum to “a joint agenda that promotes sustainability, social justice and Latin American integration” stood out, the president’s office said.
The statement also highlighted that the two presidents reached an agreement to “reactivate the search for the remains of the general José María Melo , the only Indigenous president of Colombia and a key figure in the common history of both countries.”
Melo was killed in Chiapas during Mexico’s 19th-century Reform War.
Migration and regional integration discussed
Petro’s office said that the Colombian and Mexican governments also agreed to “strengthen the exchange of information in order to guarantee dignified treatment of Colombians in transit in Mexico.”
The statement said there have been “reports of bad treatment” of Colombian nationals in Mexico airports in the past.
Petro’s office said that the two governments also agreed that the issue of migration “must be addressed with a focus on human rights and regional solidarity.”
Millions of Venezuelans have migrated to Colombia due to the dire situation in their own country, while people from all over the world — especially citizens of certain Latin American countries — travel through Mexico en route to the United States.
The office of the Colombian president said that Petro, president since 2022, and Sheinbaum also “confirmed their commitment” to Latin American integration, “highlighting the importance of forging strategic alliances in the face of global challenges.”
The meeting between the two presidents in Mexico City “reaffirms the will” of the Colombian and Mexican governments to “work for a more united, fair and prosperous continent,” Petro’s office said.
At her morning press conference on Tuesday, Sheinbaum said that “the progressive governments of Latin America” — those she cited included the governments of Chile, Brazil and Guatemala — have “a lot of things in common.”
“…And beyond the affinity of the progressive governments, we believe that unity with Latin America on many issues is very important,” she said.
“In fact, our vision is that the trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico should be expanded in many senses toward the south, because that would make us, as a continent, an economic power far above any other region of the world,” Sheinbaum said.
“That is our vision. The [former] president López Obrador spoke about it during his time [in office], I spoke about it when I was sworn in and [more] recently as well. This is the vision we have,” she said.
Sheinbaum also clarified that Petro’s visit to Mexico wasn’t “a state visit.”
“It was a visit of a president, but it didn’t have all the protocols of a state visit,” she said.
When a reporter suggested that it was a meeting between two friends, Sheinbaum said that it was, in fact, between two presidents.
Petro said on Sept. 30, the day before Sheinbaum was sworn in, that Sheinbaum was a member of M-19 , a Colombian urban guerrilla movement that was active in the 1970s and 1980s. The movement has yielded two presidents of Latin American countries, he said, referring to himself and Sheinbaum.
With reports from El Financiero and El Economista
