Interview with Mexican Ambassador Fernando Sandoval
Ambassador Fernando Sandoval of Mexico presented his letters of credence to President Bharrat Jagdeo on February 26 this year. He is Mexico’s first resident ambassador to Guyana, and he sat down with Miranda La Rose a week last Friday to give an interview on why his country has opened an embassy here at this time, what he hopes to achieve, the Rio Group and other hemispheric issues. An edited version of the interview follows.
Sunday Stabroek: Could you tell us a bit about yourself – your personal and professional background.
Ambassador Sandoval: I am a career diplomat. I have been in the Mexican foreign service for over 20 years. This is my seventh international posting. I have come [here] from Mexico and before Mexico I was posted in Colombia. All my postings have been mainly in Latin America. Once I was in San Francisco as Mexico’s Consul General for more than two years… I have been in Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Venezuela, Guatemala and Colombia. This is the first time that I am in an English-speaking country, and the first time in a country in some ways related to the Caribbean.
I have been married for more than 30 years. I have two children, both boys: Andres is 21 years and studying at the University of Concordia, Montreal, Canada; the other one is Diego. We left him behind in Colombia; he is finishing business college in the French school. He is coming to visit us here. He is also going to study in Montreal. My wife, Marta Hernandez, is Mexican and we are happy to be in this beautiful country. This is the first time that I have the opportunity and responsibility of being an ambassador. This is my first post as ambassador. I last served as advisor to the Vice Minister of Latin America and the Caribbean in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
SS: Why did Mexico open a mission in Guyana?
AS: We decided to open an embassy in Guyana because we see it as an important country. First is its location. Guyana is located geographically in South America but it has a very important link to the Caribbean… its history, its culture. Guyana has developed important relations both with the Caribbean and Latin America. So the geopolitical and strategic position of Guyana is very important. Another important issue is that Guyana houses the most important organisation of cooperation with the Caribbean, which is Caricom. What we want to do here is work with Guyana as well as with the English Caribbean states.
This is our fourth embassy in the English-speaking Caribbean We have embassies in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and St Lucia. Perhaps you have to consider Belize, where we have one, and one in Haiti.
They all belong to Caricom… We want to be closer to the English Caribbean countries. Guyana also has an important role in international organizations; [it] is very dynamic, very cooperative and we have in the past worked very well with Guyana delegations on the international front… We share common positions in the global arena – the fight against climate change, some agricultural issues.
We have considered political positions in international organizations like the Organization of American States, the United Nations and mainly the Rio Group. Guyana is now a full member of the Rio Group since last year, [and] represented the rest of the Caribbean for more than ten years. I know Jamaica wants to become a full member…
SS: What do you hope to achieve during your tenure in Guyana?
AS: This is the first time that Mexico has an embassy in Guyana. So we are starting from the beginning. We are starting to know the country. We would like the Guyanese people to know my country… If you ask me what the most important task is that I have as ambassador of Mexico today, I would say this is the most important: I want to know your country. I want to know what opportunities, what possibilities of cooperation for doing business, of cultural interchange we can have with Guyana. I want Guyanese to know my country, its importance in Latin America, its industrial capacity, its culture, its traditions…
SS: What are the important areas you see for possible cooperation?
AS: I would like to tell you also that I am very interested in seeing what we could do in commercial and economic relations… I am a member of the foreign service, a career diplomat; I do not do business but I want the members of the business community in Guyana to be able to contact the members of the business community in Mexico…You know trade between Mexico and Guyana is very low. The statistics that I have of trade interchange go to no more than US$8M a year. Guyana exports to Mexico mainly calcined bauxite. It is almost 90% of Guyana’s exports to Mexico. Mexico exports to Guyana chickpeas [channa] and wheat middling. This is information for 2007. I consider the possibilities of trade can go beyond that. I am interested in what the governments of Mexico and Guyana [can] do to enhance trade between the two countries.
SS: Any specific area in which trade can go beyond what now obtains?
AS: I have had interviews with some Guyanese entrepreneurs. They have told me they are very interested in what Mexico has to offer in machines. They spoke about agricultural machinery, machines for the sugar industry, perhaps something in relation to the beverages industry. We have as [export] products, the Mexican traditional beverages, tequila and beer. We have about 15 to 20 different brands of beer, the most common is Corona. These are some of the areas we would want to explore.
It is true that Guyana has some of the best rums in the world. I have said that one of the most popular drinks in Mexico is rum. In Mexico we have very good rums from Guatemala, Cuba and Jamaica, I have said why don’t we have very good rums from Guyana… I have spoken with the entrepreneurs here and I have told them that they have to take into consideration that they have a market of 100 million people in Mexico who are very interested in the rum. That is in the area of business.
We would like also to strengthen the bilateral cooperation programme. In the past Mexico has given scholarships at the post-graduate level to Guyanese teachers. In 2006, four Guyanese went to Mexico for two to three years to study at the Master’s Degree level in civil engineering, water management, and environmental engineering. They have returned and are now working in Guyana. They stayed for almost three years. They first took a course in Spanish and Mexican culture before pursuing their studies. They now speak Spanish very well. This is an example of cooperation with Guyana. We would like to have more of this. We would like to continue working in this bilateral programme of scholarships and I would do my best to try to get more scholarships for Guyanese to go to Mexico.
Another area of cooperation is the Spanish language. I have the perception that the amount of Guyanese who speak Spanish is not enough. I thought I was going to find more because you are surrounded by a number of Spanish speaking countries on the continent… I think we have to try to work on something in this area. We have done some things before; we have assisted teachers in the teaching of Spanish… Through this programme Guyana has participated in four courses. The first phase was in held in Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Mexico from 2002 to 2003. The second phase was conducted in November 2004 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; the intermediate course was offered in June 2005 in Kingston, Jamaica and the advanced level was done in March 2006 in St Lucia. The first stage of the secondary teachers training programme for teachers of Spanish as a second language was held in Mexico City in June in 2007. This programme involved 15 teachers from Caricom countries including Guyana.
As part of the bilateral programme, we would like to see more Mexicans come to Guyana… We want to have Guyanese teachers going to Mexico and Mexican teachers coming to Guyana. We would like to have Guyanese tourists going to Mexico and Mexican tourists coming to Guyana to know the options of agro-tourism that you have. I experienced agro-tourism in an Amerindian village cultivating organic pineapple. Apart from agro-tourism, there is the natural beauty of the country. You have the Essequibo River, the waterfalls. These are the areas that I think we can pursue.
SS: You have spoken a bit about the Spanish teachers’ programme facilitated by Caricom. How could you build on your current relationship with Caricom?
AS: …We have an important historical relationship with Caricom. In 1974 we signed an agreement which established an institutional arrangement – a joint commission – between Mexico and Caricom… Through this arrangement Caricom has received substantial assistance from Mexico particularly in the area of Spanish language courses, disaster preparedness, environmental education and training, agriculture and agro-industry, technology and manufacturing – particularly in the pharmaceutical industry.
Another important thing I would like to underline is that on January 5, 1982 Mexico joined the Caribbean Development Bank (by a subscription valued at US$25M.)
Recently we invited… the members of Caricom to participate in the 5th meeting of the Joint Caricom-Mexico Commission to be held in Mexico City in October this year. We are awaiting a response. The commission last met in Georgetown in March 2006. We would like to take advantage of this meeting to review and update the relationship between Mexico and Caricom with the intention of strengthening and fortifying cooperative ties between the English-speaking Caribbean countries.
SS: You’ve mentioned the Rio Group several times; is Mexico of the view that the regional grouping is losing influence in the region?
AS: No, I think it is gaining more influence. As I told you Cuba, Guyana and Haiti are now members of the Rio Group and Jamaica now wants membership. I think the Rio Group has become the most important regional mechanism for dialogue and consultation on political agreement among its members. It is the most representative counterpart in Latin America and the Caribbean for other countries and groups of states. There was a meeting of the Rio Group with the European Union in the Czech Republic a few days ago. So we have a dialogue with all the European countries in relation to areas of cooperation. The Rio Group has 21 member states. Mexico is now the Pro-Tempore Secretariat of the Rio Group and will be until 2010.
The objectives of Mexico’s Pro Tempore Secretariat are dialogue with the purpose of building consensus within the region; consolidating the Rio Group as the preferred interlocutor with other members of the international community; fortifying the conversations of Latin American positions in international forums… and encouraging conversations in the integration process. We consider that the Rio Group could be the basis for establishing an organisation of Latin American and Caribbean States. The Rio Group can be of great help to structure and consolidate an organization of Latin America and the Caribbean countries. Mexico is hosting the next Rio Group Summit next year.
SS: How does Mexico views its role in the Organization of American States (OAS) and its relationship with the US in this organisation?
AS: Mexico is working very well in that organization. To us it is a very important organization. It is a place where we can have a dialogue with the United States and [to which] we can bring important political issues related to our Latin American countries and the Caribbean but also in relation to the United States. To participate in the OAS is [to have] an opportunity to have a dialogue with the United States. Before speaking about the Organization of American States, we were speaking about a Latin American and Caribbean organization, which would only comprise Latin American and Caribbean countries. In the OAS you have the United States and Canada. It is an organization of broader membership because you have this opportunity to sit with them and for them to sit with you and have the opportunity to exchange opinions on matters that are important to all of us.
SS: Is Mexico taking a more leading role in the hemisphere and asserting itself in the global community?
AS: I would say that Mexico is a country with a significant level of development. Mexico places importance on its economic, political and cultural development and seeks a place in the world commensurate with its level of development, because of its capacity and political will. We think Mexico is an important country in the world… Geographically it is located in North America and has important links with Canada and the United States. We have a very important commercial, trade and investment agreement with Canada and the United States through NAFTA [North American Free Trade Agreement] but Mexico belongs to Latin America culturally. Mexico also has agreements with the European Union for trade relations and for dialogue on political and cultural matters.
Mexico also participates in the key Asia-Pacific integration mechanism.
It is a member of OPEC. Mexico was recently selected as a Non-Permanent Member of the United Nations Security Council. Mexico is a member of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights; it is a member of the Group of Five, which comprises Brazil, India, South Africa and China and it is also a member of the Group of 20.
Mexico is one of the 15 most important economies in the world because of its production, industrial capacity, commerce, e-commerce… It is aware of its responsibility as a member of the international community.
SS: What is the view of the Mexican government in relation to Venezuela’s ALBA (Economic Alternative for Latin America)
AS: We recognize that Latin America and the Caribbean is a broad region with great diversity in countries’ political ambitions and political objectives. You have the right, the left and the centre. What about Mexico in relation to this? We want a union of Latin American and Caribbean countries. We want to work in favour of common views rather than differences. We want to underline the possibilities to work together for common points which reach across ideological differences of the specific political pressures of the moment, of course on the basis of respect for the sovereignty of each one of our countries. We can speak and work together on a range of important topics for our region. Issues that we share that we think have solutions – the struggle against diseases, poverty and natural disasters. We want to work together on specific issues that are important in the long term. We don’t want to have political differences based on ideologies.
SS: Wouldn’t a union of Latin American and Caribbean countries duplicate the role of the various regional organizations already in place.
AS: The problem with these organisations is that they are partial. You have a union of South American countries, a union of Central American countries, Caricom. It is fragmented. What we want is to have a union of all Latin American and Caribbean countries. We don’t want to continue with this fragmentation. This fragmentation does not help us to solve global problems. We want to work together to try and resolve global problems which affect everybody in the region.
SS: On the drug trade and the war against it, do you think that the United Sates is doing enough to deal with the problem?
AS: Mexico thinks there has been an important change in this regard under the government of President Obama. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton was in Mexico some weeks ago. She said this problem of the fight against drugs is a two-way street. It means this is a problem we must face in common. In relation to this Mexico has two important problems. First the most important market in the world for the consumer of drugs is the United States. We are neighbours. The second is that weapons are sold in the United States without controls. So anyone can buy weapons. Some of the weapons go to Mexico to fight against the police. We would like the United States a help in the control of weapons to avoid the presence of weapons in Mexico and also perhaps something in relation to the control of drugs in the United States. These are two issues we can expect some help with from the United States.
SS: Could you comment on the global financial crisis and its impact on the Mexican economy?
AS: Mexico’s economic activity and main trading partners especially the USA have already led to a reduction in demand for raw materials and manufactured products, and less income from remittances. Mexicans living in the United States are not sending as much as before and this is affecting the economy. We are also seeing less foreign direct investment.
However, I want to underline that in this crisis our economic position is stronger than years before. The economy is not as bad as the last recession of the 1980s. This is so because we have taken the steps in the last ten years to strengthen Mexico’s fiscal position, reduce its external debt and increase its foreign reserves. This has left us in a better position to confront this crisis… Let me tell you what we have done. We have tried to put counter cyclical measures in place to avoid the worsening effects of the crisis. We have implemented the first stage to create a body of policies to stimulate aggregate demand and to compensate for decrease in external demand by the low down in the USA. We want to stimulate the capacity of consumption of the Mexican. In another stage of this crisis, we went to another stage of this counter cyclical measure, that is spending on public infrastructure such as building bridges, roads; and to improve access and to development financing for small and medium size business enterprises. We were able to put into action a fiscal stimulus package to help the business enterprises. This is how we are trying to react.
SS: What has been the effect of the global financial crisis on the tourism industry?
AS: The shift of tourists to the Caribbean from Mexico is related mainly to the influenza virus H1N1 and the fact that cruise ships that wanted to go Cancun, are now coming to the Caribbean…
SS: Is there anything you might want to tell the Guyanese public?
AS: I am very happy to be here. I arrived in Guyana on the Feb 24 and presented credentials on February 26. This country is very nice and interesting. People are very hospitable and humble. I am considering that my job here is going in part [to be] easy because of this attitude. I want you to know that the common people of Mexico have the same attitude – courtesy, hospitality, friendliness and good humour…
