The visit began with abuses and errors. What was to be one of the first, and most controversial, public events with the presence of Isabel Diaz Ayuso in Mexico City It was canceled at the last minute. It was a mass of “celebration for evangelization and miscegenation in Mexico”, with particular mention of Hernan Corteswhich seemed perfect to put the finger on the sore spot. The president of the Community of Madrid He began a 10-day tour of Mexico this Sunday, which includes public events and meetings with businessmen and opposition politicians, without a clear justification, high-level meetings or productive agenda.
His first public event, a brief speech at a reception at the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Mexico, was interrupted by a seismic alert that forced attendees to evacuate. The second, the controversial tribute, became a diluted version of what he had initially announced Nacho Canothe organizer, within the framework of his controversial musical Malinche. It had to be performed at the Frontón México, where the work is presented, and not in the cathedral due to lack of permits to film, according to the archbishopric.
The event was as out of place as its most famous attendee. The justification for both events fell short. The tribute was not tied to any anniversary or famous date, nor was it planned in the Temple of Jesús Nazareno, where the remains of the conqueror rest.
The music producer Nacho Cano participates in the ‘Celebration for Evangelization and Mestizaje in Mexico: Malinche and Cortés’. / JOSÉ MÉNDEZ / EFE
However, it was the ideal occasion to show, once again, contrary to the strategy of rapprochement of the Spanish Government regarding the thorny issue of the conquest. The visit follows a series of gestures between the governments of both countries, after King Felipe VI admitted “abuses” during colonization, a claim by the ruling left in Mexico. The gesture unleashed others on the part of the president, Claudia Sheinbaumand culminated in a visit by the president to a forum of progressive leaders organized by the president of the Government, Pedro Sanchezin Barcelona.
Provocation or occurrence?
During the event, Díaz Ayuso, who suggested that the cancellation of the event in the Cathedral had political reasons, did not miss the opportunity to throw daggers against the Government’s position regarding the conquest. The Madrid president spoke of mestizaje as the “message of hope and joy” in the face of “speeches of hate that divide.” “That the freedom never have to apologize for being freedom,” he added, while praising the figure of Isabella the Catholic as a “free and coherent woman who, from her faith and deep love for Spain and Hispanidad, changed the history of the West.”
Bertha Hernández, historian and journalist, describes Cano’s event, and Díaz Ayuso’s tour, as a “occurrence“However, it takes away from the tribute. For Hernández, the tribute has more to do with the musical production of the former Mecano than with a desire to highlight the historical figure.
However, he is not surprised that there are other historians or figures close to the ruling party who see the event as a provocation and make exaggerated judgments about it. Nor does he believe it is possible for President Sheinbaum to avoid a question about it at her daily morning press conference. The change of scenery expanded the Mexican president’s room for maneuver, but that is not the only bait that the Madrid native seeks to launch during her visit to Mexico.
Carlos Ballesteros, internationalist from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), describes Díaz Ayuso’s visit as a political tour in Spanish key. The analyst José Antonio Crespo classifies it more as a response to Sheinbaum’s visit to Spain, as ideological contrast towards the leftist governments of both countries.
Ballesteros warns that the visit of the president of the Community of Madrid must be taken with the appropriate dimension, considering the difference in profile between both policies. However, he recognizes the Spanish leader’s ability to generate “noise“at a particularly delicate moment for the Government of Claudia Sheinbaum.
The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, during the meeting with the mayor of Cuauhtémoc, Alessandra Rojo de la Vega. / COMMUNITY OF MADRID / EFE
Orbán’s mirror
The tour includes an appearance at the San Marcos fair, in which the Community of Madrid is the guest of honor. The event takes place in the state of Aguascalientesunder a conservative government, which will also deliver a medal of honor and the keys to its capital to the Madrid woman. The Community of Madrid also announced several meetings with right-wing governors National Action Party (PAN). Among the opponents, the governor of Chihuahua, Maru Camposwho faces pressure from Claudia Sheinbaum after the presence of CIA agents in an operation by the regional prosecutor’s office without federal authorization was revealed.
The meeting aims to be particularly thorny, especially in the context of constant barbs from Díaz Ayuso, who has referred to the Sheinbaum Government as a ultra-left dictatorship and has described Mexico as narcostate. It also comes at a difficult time for the president, says Ballesteros, in the midst of US accusations against the governor of Sinaloa, Rubén Rocha Moyafrom the ruling party, and nine other local officials for associations with the cartel of the same state, headed at the time by El Chapo Guzman.
The decisions of the Madrid president are not coincidental and seek to connect with conservative leaders. However, on this side he encounters a weak opposition, which has not been able to stop the growth of the former president’s party. Andrés Manuel López Obrador. For Crespo, transatlantic ties can represent a positive opportunity to confront the Sheinbaum and Sánchez governments. Ballesteros, on the other hand, issues a warning: the PAN should better analyze its international alliances, in light of what happened to Viktor Orbán in the last Hungarian elections.
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