By lack of budget and the rescheduling of events suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the cultural promotion of Mexico in the world has decreased during the Fourth Transformation.
The gastronomic samples, the sculpture, literature and cinema are, in that order, the cultural expressions hardest hit by the “republican austerity” applied by the president’s government Andrés Manuel López Obrador. In these four areas, a total of 897 events were organized, compared to 1,438 in the government of PRI Enrique Peña Nieto.
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According to information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE)in the last five years the embassies Abroad they organized a total of four thousand 97 cultural events of these and other activities, 11.8 percent less compared to the previous management.
The cultural promotion In this government it has prevailed in the United States and Canada, strategic partners of Mexico, while in Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East it has little presence.
The embassies in the world they organized 420 gastronomic samples, of which 312 were presented in the United States and Canada and 108 in the rest of the world. In the same period of Peña Nieto there were 701 events of this type. Among the gastronomic activities to promote the call cultural diplomacy There are mezcal and tequila tastings, visits to Mexican restaurants, interviews with Mexican chefs, dissemination of traditional or dynamic recipes with children and young people.
According to the data to which this newspaper had access, in presentations of books or fairs In the field outside the country, this year there was only participation in 116 events, 60 less than in Peña Nieto’s fifth year, highlighting the presence of Mexico in the Havana International Book Fairof April.
The same happens with the dissemination and promotion of mexican cinemawith only 323 events in five years compared to 467 under the previous PRI government.
When answering a question from this newspaper, the Foreign Ministry said that the reason for the decrease in cultural events in representations abroad is mainly due to the lack of budget, since “it is not economical to transfer exhibitions and artists to other countries”.
He also highlighted that for more than a year all cultural activities They were suspended, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and have had to be rescheduled little by little.
In accordance with the Guidelines of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the agenda of cultural promotion of Mexico falls on the cooperation offices of each embassy, which allocates a percentage of its annual budget to disseminate the Mexican culture; In most representations the amount does not reach five percent, so private companies are used to fund the projects.
“The embassy regularly receives numerous queries and proposals from Mexicans and foreigners to organize or co-organize cultural events. The number of requests exceeds economic resourceshuman and time, so it is necessary to make a careful selection of the events that receive support,” indicates an announcement published on the official website of the Mexican embassy in Finland.
From 2019 to last October, President López Obrador’s administration presented 38 sculpture exhibitions in the world, compared to 94 in the same period of the Peña Nieto government.
Javier Arredondo is mexican sculptor, originally from Guadalajara, Jalisco, and since 2021 has tried, without success, to take his work to other countries. In an interview with El Sol de México, he assured that he better chose to spread his art through social networks, since the response in at least three embassies (Spain, Colombia and Germany) has been that his request will be taken into account, but that the budgets for exhibitions They have been reduced and there is great demand.
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“Fortunately social networks exist today, because I’m tired of applying and applying and nothing happening. Even their own cultural offices They have recommended that I obtain financial support from an organization or company from Mexico to achieve this,” he said.
The exhibitions of photography, crafts and the dissemination of Mexican musicwhich include live performances by groups and musical events online, have been the cultural activities that Cuatroté has promoted the most abroad, although they have also decreased (except for craft exhibitions), with 12 fewer events overall than the previous administration.