López Obrador Proposes The PRI Governor Of Sinaloa As Mexico's Ambassador To Spain

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

The president affirms that Madrid acted "with pride" for not offering apologies for the conquest and says that Quirino Ordaz Coppel, an opponent of his government, will contribute to "fully reestablish relations"

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and the governor of Sinaloa, Quirino Ordaz Coppel, in an archive photo. 

The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, proposed this Saturday Quirino Ordaz Coppel, governor of the State of Sinaloa, as the next ambassador to Spain. 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reported that the appointment must now go through the usual parliamentary and diplomatic channels. The veteran leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), opposed to the Morena Government, is about to end the mandate that began in 2017. This same Friday, the president, during an event in Culiacán, the capital of the State, described him as a "professional" and "working man."

In his opinion, henwill contribute to "fully restoring relations" with the Spanish Government, which he accused of acting "with pride" for not apologizing for the conquest.

"The proposal," as reported by the Foreign Ministry, "will be presented to the Government of Spain to request approval in accordance with international diplomatic standards and, subsequently, will be sent to the Senate for analysis and opinion in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution." Ordaz Coppel began his career in the eighties, held a position in the Ministry of Energy during the government of Carlos Salinas de Gortari and was deputy director of tourism promotion under Ernesto Zedillo. 

He later went on to dedicate himself to territorial politics, with a parenthesis as a deputy of the coalition between the PRI and the Green Party in Congress.

On Friday López Obrador announced that the politician would go on to work with his Executive. "I want to tell the Sinaloans that I am going to invite them to participate in the Government, it will help us, he will participate in the Government represented by Governor Quirino Ordaz. I will invite you to work with us. 

This is because he has done a good job in Sinaloa, he is a professional, he is a man of work, he has experience and is going to join, he is going to join our team to continue transforming our country," he said. Now, trust him to revive the relationships. "We have good relations in Spain sometimes not as we would like, with misunderstandings, but I aspire to them to be completely restored," he told some media during his tour of the State, reports Efe.

The current Mexican ambassador to Spain, María Carmen Oñate, had assumed that responsibility just over a year ago. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs thanked her "for the work and performance at the head of the representation" and explained that the diplomat "had communicated for months her decision to retire, so this Foreign Ministry expresses its appreciation for her outstanding 42-year career."

The relationship of the López Obrador Government with Spain has gone through moments of tension in recent years, in 2019, a few months after taking office, the Mexican president sent a letter to Philip VI and Pope Francis to request forgiveness for the excesses of the conquest. 

This year the tensions have been framed in the celebrations of the 700th anniversary of the foundation of Tenochtitlan, the five centuries of the invasion and the 200 years of Mexico's independence, which will end at the end of September. In recent months, however, the president avoided agitating more polemics, while Spain has chosen to maintain a discreet attitude to López Obrador's insinuations, always fleeing the conflict.

Last spring, the Mexican government invited what was now Foreign Minister, Arancha González Laya, to commemorate independence on September 27. His office accepted the invitation, although soon after the Prime Minister remodeled the Cabinet and appointed a new head of diplomacy, Manuel Albares. 

The two countries have ruled out holding the so-called Binational Commission for the time being, a framework for diplomatic collaboration created in 1977 that brought together several ministers from both governments. The last one was convened under the mandate of López Obrador's predecessor, Enrique Peña Nieto, of the PRI political party 

El Pais