Weekly Report - 17 February 2011 (WR-11-07)

Two very different events have brought Mexico to the attention of European nations. The first incident involved the request for an official apology from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) by the Mexican ambassador in London, Eduardo Medina-Mora Icaza, for the “outrageous, vulgar and inexcusable" remarks about Mexican people made by the presenters of car show, Top Gear, on 29 January. More importantly, the second incident involved the announcement on 14 February by French President Nicolas Sarkozy that the cultural event, “Mexican year in France", scheduled for this year, would be dedicated to Florence Cassez, a French woman currently serving a 60-year prison sentence in Mexico for her involvement in a 2005 kidnapping case. Mexico's ambassador in France, Carlos de Icaza, protested Sarkozy's proposal and threatened to cancel all previously scheduled events.