The Madrid Executive issued a statement this Friday detailing that Mexican authorities allegedly warned event organizers that the venue for the gala could be closed if the regional president attended. This situation, described as an “unprecedented event,” led the president to not attend the gala to avoid harming businesses and participants.
“"The President of Mexico has attacked the regional president every day on her daily television program and has called for a boycott of several of her events."
The Platino Awards gala, an event co-sponsored by the Community of Madrid and the Madrid City Council, is held alternately between Cancun and Madrid. According to the regional Government, the President of Mexico has maintained a hostile stance towards the Madrid president, creating a climate of boycott.
Despite accusations from the Spanish left of an empty agenda, the Madrid Executive asserts that the president had scheduled meetings with representatives of Spanish and Ibero-American cinema, who invited her to this part of the trip. The growing boycott has forced the president to suspend the third part of her trip, planned for Monterrey, and return to Madrid earlier than expected.
The statement also indicates that the Mexican Government demanded to know the identity of all individuals who would meet with the Madrid president. The Madrid Executive considers it “unusual” to threaten a political representative from another country due to ideological disagreements, contrasting it with the respect with which the Mexican president is received in Spain.
“"Mexico's totalitarian and violent drift leads the country to serious anti-democratic episodes like the one being experienced today."
Finally, the Government of Madrid concludes that the President of Mexico has “expelled” the regional president through threats to the organizers of an international film event, calling this “an unprecedented gesture against a representative of the Spanish State, culture, and freedom of enterprise and expression.”
