Mexican consul to convey new agenda
Reyna Torres Mendivil’s appointment as consul general for the Mexican Consulate in San Antonio is the latest turn in a career largely dedicated to U.S.-Mexican relations.
In April, Mendivil will mark her second year in her post here, providing services to Mexican citizens in a 27-county region.
After graduating from the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City, Torres Mendivil earned a master’s degree at the London School of Economics and spent several years as a fellow at Harvard University. She also spent six years at the
Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C., immersed in political and congressional affairs.
In a recent interview, she spoke about relations with the United States as Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, widely referred to as AMLO, embarks on a sweeping agenda of social reform domestically amid fraught relations with the Trump administration over trade and immigration. Edited excerpts follow:
Q: How would you characterize current U.S.-Mexico relations from Mexico’s point of view?
A: We have always had a fluid relationship with the U.S. We cannot afford the opposite. Being neighbors, there is always the need for both countries to have welloiled channels of communication.
Of course, these are unprecedented times. But as long as we have the good disposition of Washington, and we have perceived that there’s willingness to communicate, that is the most important step.
Q: The new administration has expressed doubts about the energy reforms that opened Mexico’s oil industry to foreign investment. How might that affect some of our Texas companies?
A: We need to engage more with the companies here, and that’s part of my task. The authorities in the energy sector have said the financial figures that they put for the future, when the plan was approved, have not been achieved. They say it could have been done in a better manner.
What I found really interesting is that the minister of energy said the new administration does not like the reform that was approved in 2015, but they are going to be respectful of the commitments that the previous government had with companies. Part of my commitment is to bring the specialists and to make sure that the agenda of the new government is perfectly explained to local stakeholders. Q: And how about the fate of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA? There were fears it could unravel under a new administration in Mexico.
A: As in any negotiation, it is not perfect but it’s the best that could have been achieved. We know that some members of (the U.S.) Congress have some questions about certain elements of the agreement. The process of ratification is going to give us room to explain and to engage in those discussions with different stakeholders.
Q: AMLO has promised a lot of social and economic reforms for the poor. Was it those promises that led him to the largest landslide in recent Mexican history?
A: Well, the administration came in with the normal support of the citizenship. It was a very solid, open process, and that’s what is really encouraging to see — the institutions that work, that it was a smooth transition, a peaceful transition. The agenda that was proposed by the new president was very much in tune with the concerns of the citizenship, and that’s why he won with this enormous support.
Q: What were those main concerns?
A: One of the main issues was corruption. That has been a big challenge that we have been dealing with for many years.
Q: What can the president do that other administrations haven’t to combat that corruption?
A: Well he started very strongly to try to combat the “huachicoleo,” that practice that some people had to illegally extract gasoline and then sell it on the black market. He created a lot of pressure and noise for a while, but now things are stabilized and they have been able to initiate processes against many people who were part of that chain of corruption.
The other thing that, for example, is happening on the border. (The government is) changing many of the practices to make sure that there is no corruption in the caravans — people encouraging and misleading people and even charging money for them to have expectation that they will be accepted in the U.S.