As the United Nations General Assembly convened in New York on Monday, President Claudia Sheinbaum reiterated Mexico’s position that the genocide taking place in Gaza must be halted.

Sheinbaum told reporters during her Monday morning press conference that Foreign Relations Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente would deliver a message to the General Assembly encouraging peace in line with Mexico’s long-held foreign policy of non-intervention and self-determination.

Mexico has supported all formal denunciations of the violence taking place in Gaza, Sheinbaum said, adding that she is following in the footsteps of her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, in supporting international condemnation of genocide in Gaza.

Sheinbaum added that she supports a two-state solution, saying that “there can’t be aggression against the civilian population as is happening now.”

“This is the message our foreign minister will deliver and it is important that it be known that this is our official position,” she said.

Sheinbaum, who has been described as culturally Jewish though not religiously observant, pointed out that she officially recognized Nadya Rasheed as the Palestinian Ambassador to Mexico in March.

“This was the first time we recognized an ambassador from Palestine, the first time a president of Mexico accepted the credentials of the Palestinian State and it’s very important that this be acknowledged,” she said.

Before this, Mexico recognized diplomatic representatives from Palestine, but not as credentialed ambassadors. 

De la Fuente, Mexico’s ambassador to the United Nations from December 2018 through September 2023, is scheduled to speak at the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) on Tuesday. 

He met with Mexico’s current ambassador to the U.N., Hector Vasconcelos, in New York on Saturday to finalize Mexico’s activities and priorities in the Assembly and the General Debate.

On Monday, world leaders convened for a one-day summit at the UNGA to discuss the long-stalled notion of a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza. 

The General Debate, which begins on Tuesday, is also expected to be heavily focused on the war in Gaza, especially after Britain, Canada, Australia, France and Portugal formally recognized Palestine.

With reports from El Universal, Debate and La Jornada