Friday, March 4, 2011

How long can Carlos Pascual remain the U.S. ambassador to Mexico? "Don't help me, compadre"

It's front page news in Milenio and La Jornada, and certainly has its fair share of media attention in the United States as well (Washington Post, Wall Street Journal):

President Felipe Calderón is extremely critical of the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Carlos Pascual, and is stating it pretty much as directly as he can. Asked directly if he had still confidence in Pascual and could still work with him - Pascual's wikileaked disparaging comments on Mexican security efforts have been particularly galling - Calderón replied: "It's difficult to build and it's easy to lose."
Calderón also said sarcastically, "Don't help me, compadre," a reference to what is regarded as less-than-helpful help from the U.S. embassy and State department.

Despite the notable praise of Calderón and Obama for each other, and the seemingly very tangible result of ending the NAFTA trucking dispute, the Pascual case remains a sore.  One anonymous U.S. official noted after the meeting, "We stand by our official... and that was that."

Yet this is surely an untenable situation in the long run: The Mexican government has absolutely no confidence in Pascual and wants him out, while Obama sticks by him.

How long will he last?

No comments:

Post a Comment