MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Fernandez with Lopez Obrador, “satisfied in meeting with someone who thinks so similarly to me”

Fernández said topics of discussion with López Obrador at Mexico's National Palace included improving a deteriorated commercial relationship. Image: Reuters

Argentine President-elect Alberto Fernández met with his Mexican soon-to-be counterpart on Monday seeking to boost bilateral and regional cooperation in his first foreign trip since winning election last month.

Fernández said topics of discussion with Andrés Manuel López Obrador in their private conversations at Mexico's National Palace included improving what he described as a deteriorated commercial relationship and mutual concerns over political upheaval in countries like Chile and Ecuador. He said they barely touched on the political standoff in Venezuela because both men's stances are well-known.

Fernández said the two shared a similar vision of how to see the Americas and the world, and outlined a regional vision prioritizing equality and boosting marginalized people.

“They are alternatives to what has ruled in recent years, for example in Argentina, and it is a return to finding a political system that returns the equity lost in Latin America, the equilibrium lost in Latin America, the social equality lost in Latin America,” Fernández said in a news conference following the encounter.

He expressed “satisfaction in meeting with someone who thinks so similarly to me.”

After topping conservative incumbent Mauricio Macri on Oct. 27, a key South American partner would have normally been a more likely first stop for Fernández rather than Mexico City, which is a 10-hour flight from Buenos Aires and is far more closely tied to the United States commercially and otherwise.

But there were few good options close to home. The likes of Brazil and Colombia are run by conservative governments with which Fernández has little in common ideologically. Left-led countries like Venezuela and Bolivia are in the midst of political crises. Neighboring Chile is both conservative-led and in the midst of deadly political protests, and analysts say visiting there would have been seen as validating the government's use of force against demonstrators.

So the president-elect turned to the northern hemisphere and López Obrador, a like-minded, center-left politician who's often referred to by his initials, “AMLO,” and who regularly espouses non confrontation and nonintervention in others' affairs as a cornerstone of Mexico's foreign policy since taking office last December.

“Mexico is far away, with few ties,” said Shannon O'Neil, senior fellow for Latin America Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, “but rhetorically leftist, so safe.”

Argentina is mired in a crisis of its unknown with rampant inflation, deep indebtedness and widespread poverty, and Fernández said his inauguration Dec. 10 “is not a magical date” after which the problems he blames on his predecessor will be quickly solved.

“On Dec. 10 the government changes, the economic reality does not,” he warned, adding that Argentina's external debt rose in the last three years to 95% of GDP, 40% of his compatriots will be in poverty when he takes office and resolving the crisis won't be easy.

As for the debt, he said: “It's not that we don't want to pay ... obligations must be met. What they must understand is that we cannot fulfill it by asking our people for more sacrifice.”

Fernández said Argentina and Mexico share deep cultural ties and Argentina owes the North American nation “an eternal debt of gratitude” for taking in the thousands who fled to political exile during the military dictatorship decades ago.

He said the commercial relationship fell by the wayside and now the challenge is to build it back up. Later Monday he was to meet with Mexican private sector leaders to encourage them to do business in Argentina, and previously he held a private meeting with billionaire Carlos Slim, one of the world's wealthiest men. Argentina’s incoming president will continue his visit to Mexico on Tuesday with a speech at its largest public university.