The meeting between Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Mexico City on Wednesday angered millions in Mexico, including former President Vicente Fox and former first lady Margarita Zavala.
But a scathing op-ed written by Oscar-winning Mexican-born director Alejandro González Iñárritu (”Birdman,” “The Revenant”) may be the most eloquent takedown of Trump’s visit yet.
Here are 10 of the most profound sentiments González Iñárritu expressed in his searing critique of the Mexican president’s appearance with Trump, published in El País.
1. “Enrique Peña Nieto’s invitation to Donald Trump is a betrayal.”
2. “It shows a lack of dignity that strengthens a hateful political campaign against us, against half of humanity and against the most vulnerable minorities on the planet.”
3. “Never in my life have I seen a Mexican begging on the street in the United States.”
“Trump should have been named 'persona non grata' by our government a long time ago."”
5. “Our president invited him [Trump] to visit our country, giving him an opportunity and platform that he has taken advantage of to make a comeback and crown himself in Arizona.”
6. “Trump had the honor, without precedent, of being the first North American candidate to visit our country, smearing forever the memory and history of our nation.”
“168 years ago, Antonio López de Santa Anna, delivered almost half of our territory. Yesterday, president Peña Nieto delivered the little dignity we had left."”
8. “I can’t accept as a representative a politician who instead of defending and dignifying his countrymen, is the one that denigrates and puts them at risk by inviting someone like him.”
9. “It’s worth remembering the wise quote by Martin Luther King Jr.: ‘Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.’”
“40 percent of Mexican and Central American immigrants, more than undocumented immigrants, are refugees."”
This post originally appeared on HuffPost Mexico and has been translated into English. To read this article in Spanish from HuffPost Mexico, click here.
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.
