We are the journalists that criticized the Mexican Embassy for leaving Washington without a leader for several months. We asked what had happened. How was it possible that they didn’t have a plan with our main business partner? And how had they abandoned the millions of compatriots who live in the United States?
The authorities always told us that the relationship with the most powerful economy on the planet doesn’t come down to just the ambassador’s activities, but rather the Foreign Relations Secretariat’s (SRE) complex network, through which many people communicate. But we always insisted that the diplomatic bridge was an ambassador that shined because of their absence.
When he position was proposed to Miguel Basáñez, we were all left with a confused look on our faces. How could a well qualified academic without the necessary White House relations represent us over there? Despite the many complaints, the proposal was sent from Los Pinos and the Senate approved. But history proved us right. A few months before the controversial naming was announced, Basáñez was thanked and the SRE’s movements also reached the undersecretary for the U.S., Carlos Pérez Verdía, who was also thanked for participating in the Mexican Foreign Service.
José Paulo Carreño King will be the new undersecretary and Carlos M. Sada will be the ambassador. I hope that these new officials will soon smooth things over and express the bilateral relation’s great potential, which for a few months has been suspended, even though some people wouldn’t like us to say so.
Secretary Ruiz Massieu has been a surprise for many people who don’t know the rhythm of her work, but we are sure that she will succeed in paving the bridge — which today is filled with potholes — that unites Mexico City with Washington.
Up until a few days ago Carreño King was coordinator for the Presidency’s Country Brand and International Means and was the director of communication and institutional relations at Citigroup and the Association of Mexican Banks. Sada has served as a general consul in New York, Chicago, San Antonio and Toronto. He was also the mayor of Oaxaca and the Secretary of Economic Development in his state.
A young team has finally been assembled and everything indicates that they will all row for the same team. Good luck to the secretary, the new undersecretary and the new ambassador, who will have to be ratified by the Senate first and then be given President Obama’s consent.
Journalist, editor and radio broadcaster
@GustavoRenteria
www.GustavoRenteria.mx
