- If necessary, there will be another flight
- Mexico's embassies in Ukraine and Romania will continue to operate from the border
- Mexico will not apply unilateral sanctions against another country
During today's morning press conference led by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard reported that a Mexican Air Force plane arrived in Mexico this morning with 81 people evacuated from Ukraine: 44 Mexicans, 28 Ukranians, […] seven people from Ecuador, one from Peru, and one from Australia. As instructed by the President, the evacuation was of complete families.
The Foreign Secretary said that the Mexican and Mexican-Ukranian families were transported in two buses to Siret, a Romanian town on the border with Ukraine. He highlighted and expressed his appreciation for the work of the Mexican ambassador to Ukraine, Olga García Guillén, and the ambassador to Romania, Guillermo Ordorica Robles, in addition to the Mexican Air Force.
Regarding the possibility of a future flight to evacuate more Mexican families, the Secretary said, "If necessary, the President has already told us that there will be. What does that mean? If Mexican families need it, we would bring them." Mexico's embassies in Ukraine and Romania will continue operating from the border, "because other families are arriving by other means, not necessarily in the buses that we organized" and "conditions in Kiev are difficult," he said.
The Foreign Secretary reiterated Mexico's position on the conflict in Ukraine, saying, "We strongly condemn the invasion of Ukraine. That is Mexico's position in the UN General Assembly resolution, in the Security Council, and in the various multilateral organizations and representations." He emphasized that "Mexico is a country that advocates for the prohibition of the use of force in international relations, in disputes between countries, and the peaceful resolution of conflicts is in our Constitution."
The Secretary stressed that Mexico's main concern regarding the conflict is humanitarian aid. “Politics and diplomacy must be given an opportunity to find a way to protect the civilian population and to defend the values we and other countries believe in. That is, there must be humanitarian aid, the conflict must be limited and the civilian population protected. We are working on that now together with other countries.”
The Foreign Secretary said, "Mexico has never applied unilateral sanctions against another country. We would do so if the UN Council applied multilateral sanctions [...] UN multilateral sanctions, if established, are agreements among countries, not one country [applying sanctions unilaterally] on another." He explained that “Mexico is not going to participate in any type of sanction other than the multilateral sanctions that the UN Security Council approves...This has historically been our country's position. There is no ambiguity; it is a historical stance, like the principle of non-intervention.”
The Secretary said that an agreement regarding the export of technology to Russia will not be published. "First of all, we don't think it will be necessary, because there is already a committee that has to review all the permits. This isn't a sanction, that is, you either give an export permit or you don't. Mexico's position is one of non-intervention, we will be very careful on that point," he said.
Lastly, Foreign Secretary Ebrard recalled Mexico's position since 1945 regarding the right of veto in the UN: "We have always been against the veto power of some countries. Mexico has always believed [...] that the veto power should not exist. Well, now we are seeing why there should not be [this veto power]," he said, referring to Russia's veto of the Security Council resolution on the conflict in Ukraine.
On behalf of the Mexican government, the Foreign Ministry reaffirms its commitment to base its foreign policy on the principles of the peaceful settlement of disputes, the prohibition of the threat or use of force in international relations and non-intervention.
