ALICIA BÁRCENA IBARRA, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Mexico, criticized “neoliberal hegemony” and “extractivist development”, pointing out that those socialize losses, privatize gains, impoverish people and devastate the planet.  Yet, despite the return of arms races and wars, the growing extremism and the disregard for democratic values, it is possible to change a “destructive path” with “bravery and courage”.  Against this backdrop, she highlighted Mexico’s efforts to build emancipatory alternatives, such as a moral economy that guarantees equal distribution of income and respect for environment.  Detailing her country’s recent progress, she spotlighted the lifting out of poverty of over 9.5 million Mexicans with the minimum wage increased by 135 per cent.

Turning to the issue of migration, she said her country has developed a model for human mobility to ensure safe, orderly and regular ways for people to migrate.  “Migration is not a problem, but a phenomenon”, she stressed.  Rather, problems are the factors forcing people to leave their homes and facing dangers when they cannot find legal ways to migrate.  By recognizing the annual contribution of $324 billion for the United States’ economy by over 37 million Mexican migrants, her country’s Government managed to change the narrative on migration and has reduced border clashes by 66 per cent.  Noting that Mexico is the first country in the Global South to adopt a feminist foreign policy, she voiced regret that only nine female world leaders spoke at the General Assembly during the high-level week.  “The world cannot make headway without half of its population,” she stressed.

On the issues of global security, she sounded the alarm over the growing risk of nuclear war — “the greatest threat that humanity has ever faced” — and called for negotiations to end the conflict in Ukraine, while welcoming the peace initiative by Brazil and China.  “We are all losers, apart from the mercenaries of death, apart from those arms companies that are making money out of suffering,” she said, calling for efforts to be redoubled to eliminate nuclear weapons.  Mexico is suffering from the flow of more than half a million weapons into its territory every year, she reported, and the arms industry for the negligence must be held accountable.  She went on condemn the long-standing economic embargo imposed on Cuba and called on the removal of that country from the List of State Sponsors of Terrorism.  Highlighting the historic inauguration of Mexico’s first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum, on 1 October, she said that “equality for women has now arrived”.