Ayuso Cancels Mexico Visit After Pressure from Country’s Authorities. The Madrid government has reported pressure from Mexican authorities over Ayuso's visit. Organizers of the Platino Awards were threatened with venue closure. Regional officials canceled the trip and returned the delegation to Spain.
The Madrid authorities have announced the cancellation of regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso’s visit to Mexico after the organizers of the Platino Awards faced threats from the Mexican authorities. According to the regional government, the event organizers, led by Enrique Cerezo, were threatened with the closure of the venue if Ayuso appeared on the premises or participated in the ceremony. This decision was a response to direct pressure allegedly exerted by Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, according to Madrid officials.
The Madrid government’s official statement notes that Claudia Sheinbaum regularly criticizes Isabel Díaz Ayuso during her daily television broadcasts and calls for a boycott of events involving her. Regional authorities stress that such visits by Spanish autonomous leaders to Latin America are standard practice and say they are surprised by the strong reaction from the Mexican authorities. After receiving the ultimatum, Ayuso initially decided to limit her trip to business meetings with the organizers, declining to attend the ceremony itself to avoid risking the local businesses and guests at the international event. However, it was later decided to cancel the entire trip and return the delegation to Spain.
In a statement circulated by the Madrid government, information about the allegedly empty agenda of the visit is specifically refuted. Regional authorities assert that not only attendance at the Platino ceremony was scheduled for the weekend, but also meetings with representatives of the film industry from Spain and Latin America, who were the ones to invite Ayuso to the event. In addition, according to Madrid officials, the Mexican side demanded a list of all persons planning to meet with the regional president.
The situation escalated against the backdrop of a recent public dispute between Isabel Díaz Ayuso and Claudia Sheinbaum, which erupted after Ayuso participated in a memorial ceremony for Hernán Cortés in Mexico City. At that time, the Spanish delegation emphasized that they did not intend to offer historical assessments, and that the purpose of the visit was to foster positive contacts. In response, Sheinbaum accused Ayuso of trying to justify Cortés’s actions, fueling a new round of mutual recriminations.
This incident became yet another example of tense relations between Spanish and Latin American authorities. In recent months, the issue of diplomatic contacts and visits by Spanish officials has repeatedly come under discussion. Similar difficulties with international travel and returning home were recently experienced by a Spanish citizen deported from the United States after a prolonged period in detention—you can find more on this case in the report on the return of a Spaniard from an American ICE center.
