La Jornada: Given the legal vacuum, SRE will create a standard for the use of diplomatic headquarters: Sheinbaum

President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo reported that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) is analyzing creating a rule that regulates the use of diplomatic headquarters abroad. “So that it is not subject to interpretation.”

The above after the controversy generated by the stay for at least six months at the residence of the Mexican embassy in the United Kingdom of Marcelo Ebrard’s son – when the current Secretary of Economy was chancellor – and it has been proven that there is a legal vacuum in this matter.

Yesterday morning, to a new question regarding the controversy in which Ebrard has been involved, the president pointed out that the head of the SRE, Roberto Velasco, informed her that there is no regulation regarding the use by officials and family members of Mexican diplomatic facilities abroad.

“It seems to me, as President, that it is very important, we talked about it with the Secretary of Foreign Affairs and he told me: there is no particular regulation on these issues, there is no standard. It is important that the secretariat establishes them.

“What is the rule for the use of embassies? There are things that are defined, but others that are not. It is very important that the embassies and consulates of Mexico abroad be very clear: what rules must be followed by the ambassadors, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs or anyone else who wants to use the facilities of an embassy. It is very important that we make all this clear so that it is not subject to any interpretation.”

The head of the Executive asserted that Foreign Minister Velasco is already working on this, together with the Ethics and Discipline Committee of the Mexican Foreign Service.

At the same time, he clarified that the investigation opened by the Anti-Corruption and Good Government Secretariat (SABG) on this case was not initiated by his government, but was opened based on complaints from individuals.

“Complaints were opened from abroad on this issue and from there the SABG has to develop the investigation. We will wait to see what it reports.”

Sheinbaum did not miss the opportunity to highlight, despite this controversy, Ebrard’s work. “That is independent of the good work that Marcelo and his team are doing at the head of the Ministry of Economy.”