Embassy Photo: Michelle Collins
by Michelle Collins
New Mexican Ambassador Francisco Barrio Terrazas says Canada and the U.S. must help fight Mexico’s drug war if the scourage of violence is to be defeated.
In the few short weeks since Francisco Barrio Terrazas arrived in Ottawa as Mexico's new ambassador, his controversial political record has thrust him into the spotlight over a characterization that he says is misinformed.
Mr. Barrio, who rose through Mexico's political ranks as a mayor, governor and federal minister prior to his diplomatic appointment to Canada, has been accused of failing to adequately investigate and protect women in the city of Juarez in the mid-1990s, when he was governor of the state of Chihuahua.
During that time, a number of women were found brutally murdered in Juarez, and Mr. Barrio allegedly downplayed the slayings by saying they were likely killed because they were walking the streets provocatively dressed.
Although his arrival in Canada was marked by outspoken protests from women's groups in Quebec and Mexico, Mr. Barrio stands by his record as governor and in overseeing a rigorous investigation and ultimate prosecution of the killers.
"My responsibility as governor was to prosecute those cases, which we did; many of those cases were solved, the responsible people went to jail [and] stayed in jail," Mr. Barrio says.
Of the alleged controversial comment, Mr. Barrio says he was merely voicing a public warning to women to avoid areas targeted by the killers at that time. He says his words have been distorted over the years.
"I was never, never indifferent. Never insensitive towards those cases. Those were happenings that affected me extremely, there was a huge concern from me. Every time we had news of one of those killings, for me that was terrible information," Mr. Barrio says. "So I reject those implications that I managed the whole issue in a frivolous way, or was lacking of respect to the families. Because those expressions are not accurate."
Mr. Barrio, who studied to be an accountant, first entered politics in 1983 and was mayor of Juarez, his hometown, for three years. In 1986, he ran for governor of the state of Chihuahua but did not land in office until 1992, after a prolongued court battle over election fraud against his opponent. The case was heard by the Inter-American Human Rights Convention in Washington.
After a six-year term—during which time the violent killings began in Juarez-—Mr. Barrio was recruited to then-president Vicente Fox's cabinet as the federal comptroller's secretariat, the government's anti-corruption agency, a position he held from 2000 until 2003.
Mr. Barrio focused on implementing a national plan against corruption to enhance transparency and be preventative.
"I think that was a giant step against Mexico's corruption," Mr. Barrio says. "There is much to do, but I would say there have been big improvements...because right now thousands of issues that 10 years ago were completely hidden today have become of public knowledge, and that by itself is, in my opinion, the most effective way of depleting corruption."
As Mexico's top envoy to Canada, Mr. Barrio says he is concerned by the recent spate of deadly shootings in Vancouver that have been linked to Mexican drug gangs.
Mr. Barrio says the drug wars erupting in northern Mexico are not a problem the government of Mexico can or should solve alone. Rather, he says, Canada and the U.S. must be involved as well as borderless crime demands a response rooted in transnational co-operation.
Mr. Barrio says he is proud of his government's efforts to crack down on the drug gangs, but that the effect has been worsening violence in northern Mexico as the different cartels fight to maintain control.
Despite the spreading violence, Mr. Barrio says Canadian tourism to Mexico has remained strong and last year surpassed 1 million visitors, making Canadians the second largest group to visit Mexico after Americans.
"The perception here keeps being good," he says. "We think that's a matter we have to be very attentive to and work on so people in Canada get the proper information because practically all the tourist destinations are safe and have always been."
This year will mark 65 years of political relations between Mexico and Canada. Mr. Barrio says the relationship is a strong one and that he is not concerned by a growing desire within Canadian political ranks to focus less on the trilateral relationship in order to devote more attention to the bilateral one with the U.S. He says safety, the environment and economic issues are better dealt with in the trilateral sense.
"The amount of trade that Mexico and Canada have is so big that Mexico cannot disappear from the Canadian radar and vice versa," he says. "To me the real challenge is to make a very good job of differentiating which issues should go in the bilateral track and which go in the trilateral track."
Although Mr. Barrio has yet to meet Prime Minister Stephen Harper, he has met with the Mexican community in Ottawa and says he was impressed by their willingness to promote Mexican culture and help their native country. Mr. Barrio says he intends to have a strong cultural program, with several modest events throughout the year, which would be highlighted by a few major attractions.
Mr. Barrio and his wife Hortensia have five children. Their two youngest, an 18-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter, are living with them in Ottawa.
mcollins@embassymag.ca
