Democracy Dialogues: Arturo Sarukhan

Speakers

• Arturo Sarukhan, former Mexican Ambassador to the U.S.
• Eric Farnsworth, Vice President, Americas Society/Council of the Americas (interviewer)

If the United States and Mexico get to their respective 2024 presidential elections with some of the anti-democratic trends we’re currently seeing in both countries, “I’d be getting very jittery,” Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan told Eric Farnsworth in an AS/COA event as part of the Democracy Dialogues series.

On the flip side, he noted, when the electoral cycles coincide as they do every 12 years, there’s a unique opportunity to revamp and relaunch the bilateral relationship. The former ambassador, who’s based in Washington, noted that the January 6 Capitol riot are casting a long shadow over the progress of democracy not just the United States, but the Americas on the whole. He also expressed concern over the harassment of Mexico’s electoral authorities, financial regulators, as well as academic and scientific communities. Washington, in particular, he said, “seems less willing to address some of these domestic issues that down the road could have a profound impact on the wellbeing and security of the United States, let alone the bilateral relationship.”