Biden reaches out, asks Martha Barcina: 'You have to take advantage'

Former Mexican ambassador to the United States, Martha Barcena, said, “The time has come now or ever” to take advantage of President Joe Biden’s window of opportunity for the country to improve bilateral relations.

During the EF Meet Point Forum The 100 Days of Biden: His Impact in Mexico, moderated by University of California professor and columnist for EL FINANCIERO, Rafael Fernandez de Castro, Barcena, along with Anna Maria Salazar, who is also the columnist for this article, The House opener, Gabriel Guerra, President of Guerra Castellanos y Asociados, analyzed the path that President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador should take to improve the relationship between Mexico and the United States.

After declaring that the opportunity in bilateral relations is short, since the midterm elections of 2022 in the United States have changed the landscape, Parsina considers that there are four issues to work on: security. Migration cooperation; Understand how the economic model is changing in the United States and thus in Mexico, and act at all levels.

For Anna Maria Salazar, improving bilateral relations involves returning to structures that allow for negotiation, in addition to separating issues, so that issues such as the economy or cultural exchange do not spoil security.

“I think the problem is now in Mexico. He stressed that there is no clear structure that goes beyond the decisions or statements of Lopez Obrador, that allows this type of exchange to begin to solve, at least, some of the most pressing problems.

Within the framework of President Joe Biden’s 100 days of government, international Gabriel Guerra indicated that it is imperative to implement public diplomacy, which has been sidelined and is just being restored; Do more work in states, provinces and constituencies, with the aim of achieving decentralization in bilateral relations, in addition to taking advantage of the counterweight, that is, knowing how to play with factors such as China and Russia.

He stressed that “the relationship does not pass only through the White House.”

For Martha Barsina, what Biden did during the 100 days of the ruling is not surprising, since the roadmap was already very clear: the obligation to amend immigration legislation, according to which the dreamers are protected and agricultural workers settled; A massive vaccination campaign without differences, changing the economic model with a social focus.