The war currently taking place in Ukraine has captured the world’s attention. It has also impacted Mexico, notwithstanding how distant the conflict rages. Mexico condemned the attack on Ukraine before the United Nations Security Council, of which Mexico serves as a member. Despite its denunciation at the U.N., Mexico has maintained a neutral position based on its constitutional principles governing the conduct of foreign policy. Such principles are: peoples’ rights to self-determination; non-intervention; peaceful conflict resolution; prohibitions on the threat or use of force in international affairs; the legal equality of the Nations; international cooperation for development; and the fight for international peace and security. A careful review of these principles suggests that the condemnation of the aggression occurring in Ukraine is not against Mexican constitutional provisions. On the contrary, numerous elements exist which allow the country to support taking a tougher stance against the conflict.
The enunciation of these constitutional principles suggests: peaceful resolution of conflicts, non-intervention, prohibition of threat or use of the force in international affairs and the international cooperation for development and the fight for international peace and security. Additionally, the world’s situation demands a proactive - not a passive and neutral - position. After the two countries at war Ukraine (invaded) and Russia (invader), a large burden of the response to the conflict falls on the United States based on its position as a nuclear, economic and military superpower. The United States has shown its leadership to the NATO member countries and the world. Mexico is no exception. Being the United States’ main commercial partner (80% of the Mexican exports go to the U.S.), it is only natural and appropriate that Mexico display a less neutral expression and more energetic disapproval of the atrocities that are currently taking place in Ukraine.
