MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Sheinbaum not attending Celac Tegucigalpa Summit

The Mexican president lowered her challenging tone towards the White House, perhaps after Gustavo Petro's undignified backtracking from his demands to Trump

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum admitted Tuesday that she would not be attending the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) “emergency” Jan. 30 summit called for by Honduras' Xiomara Castro to discuss the ongoing mass deportations by the United States' newly-inaugurated Republican administration that has been fiddling with the idea of imposing 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada.

Sheinbaum, who last week underscored the importance of Celac's role to the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS) and pledged to seek “unity in Latin America” in the face of the US Government's measures, was perhaps deterred by what happened to Colombia's Gustavo Petro. The former South American guerrilla fighter engaged in a tug of war with US President Donald Trump over deportation flights but ended up bowing to all of Washington's demands, albeit at the price of consular services temporarily closed in Bogotá, which left many Colombians unable to get their US visas. The Celac does not include the United States and Canada.

Sheinbaum thus shifted her emboldened tone stemming from talks with Castro and Presidents Bernardo Arévalo (Guatemala) and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Brazil) concluded Tuesday that she would skip the Tegucigalpa hybrid gathering (on-site and on-line) and insisted Foreign Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente could represent Mexico instead. Nevertheless, she reaffirmed her support to Latin American and particularly Celac nations: “Always our solidarity and coordination also with the governments of Latin America,” she pointed out. On the other hand, Petro, who will soon be picking up the Celac's rotating presidency from Castro, confirmed his presence at the high-profile regional event.

”I am going to meet with the Chancellor (Juan Ramón), he is going to explain to me the conversations that were held yesterday to see about the meeting. Personally, I would not attend, the chancellor would attend and we will see if it takes place, they are in that definition,” Sheinbaum explained.

“I urgently call for a meeting of presidents and heads of state; next Thursday, January 30,” Castro posted on X this past weekend. The gathering is scheduled to focus on “migration”, “Latin American and Caribbean unity,” and “environment.”