Among the topics President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke about at her Tuesday morning press conference was her upcoming meeting with United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is making his first visit to Mexico as the Trump administration’s top diplomat.
Among other remarks, Sheinbaum revealed that she will embark on a whirlwind national tour and briefly spoke about the patriotic duty she will carry out on Sept. 15.
Sheinbaum: Meeting with Rubio will demonstrate ‘relationship of respect’ between Mexico and US
Sheinbaum said that Rubio would arrive in Mexico City on Tuesday afternoon ahead of bilateral talks on Wednesday.
She said that she and other Mexican officials would meet with Rubio on Wednesday for one or two hours, and then the U.S. secretary of state and Foreign Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente will hold a joint press conference.
Security, and in particular a new bilateral security “understanding,” is set to be the focus of the meeting.
Sheinbaum — who last month rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that Mexico “does what we tell them to do” — asserted on Tuesday that “a good relationship” has been established between her government and its U.S. counterpart.
Despite “all the difficulties, and all those who would prefer that there not be a good relationship between Mexico and the United States, we must always seek a good relationship with the United States, because it is our neighboring country, because around 40 million first, second, third and fourth generation Mexicans live there, because we have many things in common, because we are trade partners,” the president said.
“Therefore, we must always strive for a good relationship. There will be moments of greater tension, of lesser tension, subjects on which we may not agree, but we have to seek a good relationship,” Sheinbaum said.
“And tomorrow’s meeting, I believe, will demonstrate that — a relationship of respect and, at the same time, a relationship of collaboration within the framework of respect for our sovereignties,” she said.
Sheinbaum’s meeting with Rubio will take place a day after the newspaper El Financiero published the results of a poll that showed that 56% of respondents believe that the Mexican government is doing a bad or very bad job at handling the relationship with Trump.
Sheinbaum to present government reports in every state in the country
A day after delivering her first annual government report in a 70-minute speech at the National Palace, Sheinbaum told reporters that she would visit every state of the country to present reports pertaining to each entity.
“Starting this Friday, … we’re going to visit all [32] entities of the republic in three and a half weeks,” she said.
Sheinbaum said that in each state she would present “an individual report for the entity.”
“We’re going to inform the people. We’re going with the governors, all the governors. We’re going to go to three states in a day [in some cases],” she said.
“… We’re going to report on the welfare programs in each state, the public works that we’re doing in each state, the other things that are coming for [each] state. It’s an effort to be accountable,” Sheinbaum said.
Sept. 15 will be a proud day for Sheinbaum
A reporter asked the president how she feels about becoming the first female president to perform “El Grito” from a balcony of the National Palace on the night of Sept. 15, the day before Mexico’s Independence Day.
El Grito is a reenactment of the original “Cry of Dolores” made by the priest and founding father of Mexico, Miguel Hidalgo, in 1810. The cry marked the start of the Mexican War of Independence.
Sheinbaum said that she will feel very proud when the time comes for her to perform El Grito, an act that takes place in front of a large crowd of people gathered in the Zócalo, Mexico City’s central square.
“You’ll soon see how we’re going to do it,” she said.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
