The United States ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, expressed confidence on Tuesday that there will be a “peaceful transition” with the government of the elected US president, Donald Trump, and also that binational cooperation on the border with Mexico will continue.
With just over a month left before his term ends, the ambassador stressed at a press conference during his visit to the border city of Tijuana that the objective with President Joe Biden was “to work to strengthen the binational border relationship.”
Salazar stressed that, under this work scheme between both countries, various agreements, strategies and therefore progress were achieved on issues such as security and migration.
“I am happy to say that we have made a lot of progress in terms of the commercial relationship in the world, but also in security, fighting against fentanyl and arms trafficking, in addition to the fight against human trafficking and dismantling one of the cartels such as Sinaloa,” he said.
Salazar said that his objective as ambassador was primarily to work “to maintain a border, which is shared, as a safe space and to be a catalyst for prosperity for our peoples and our nations, this work seeks to strengthen the binational relationship and improve in every way.”
Likewise, the ambassador trusted in a “democratic and peaceful transition” with President Trump (2017-2021) and his team.
“They will be the ones who determine this future and we, in my case, will be able to come and share some of my advice, if they require it, but it will be all up to them,” he added.
He added that “the work we have done on migration, which greatly affects Tijuana and the entire hemisphere” is remarkable.
“We will continue until January 20 (2025) with President Joe Biden and the framework that we have carried out and worked on every day is to work as partners, hand in hand, to advance the bilateral relationship, which will be very important to maintain for the future of both countries,” he said.
And he reiterated that it will be the Donald Trump Administration that will be in charge of carrying out its projects once its administration begins, but that it will be important to maintain those ties and links that have already been established between both countries.
Salazar was received at the Rancho Las Flores Community Center in Tijuana by some officials and activists from the Costa Salvaje organization, where the progress of cleaning the Tijuana River and the projects that both countries have in common for the resolution of the discharge of sewage into the Pacific Ocean were observed.
Regarding his future, he said that he had “the privilege and blessing” of being the United States ambassador to Mexico, generating a close relationship with state governments, mayors, the president and currently with the president, so it was “part of a very positive experience.”
On November 14, President Claudia Sheinbaum said that Salazar contradicts himself in his statements, after the diplomat described the security strategy of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador as a “failure,” summarized in the phrase “hugs, not bullets.”
Sheinbaum said that on some controversial issues, such as judicial reform, “on one occasion he said that it seemed good to him, a week later he said that it was going to be very bad for Mexico.”
On security matters, the president said that the ambassador cannot declare one thing first and then another: “Which statement did we hear? The one from yesterday or the one from a few months ago?”
Source: aristeguinoticias
