Roberto Velasco: ‘Mexico’s sovereignty is the first thing that must always be defended’
Roberto Velasco’s first two months at the helm of Mexico’s foreign ministry have been anything but calm. The 38-year-old chief of the country’s diplomacy — who had already served in the role temporarily during his predecessor José Ramón de la Fuente’s illness — is suddenly facing one of the most delicate moments in bilateral relations with the United States since Donald Trump returned to the White House. The death of two unaccredited CIA officers in the Sierra Madre of Chihuahua; the U.S. Department of Justice’s charges against Sinaloa’s governor, Rubén Rocha Moya; the renegotiation of the USMCA trade treaty… All of these issues push Velasco to choose his words with surgical precision, or even to steer clear of certain topics to avoid any hint of conflict. That caution runs throughout the entire conversation, held on Monday.