"Education, experience, training". The ambassador stated that while it is the President's prerogative to make these appointments and the Senate's to ratify them, the Mexican Foreign Service Law itself states that they should preferably be career diplomats. As an example, he pointed out that a diplomat, although always receiving instructions, must know how to react diplomatically, for instance, who to turn to in the event of an armed conflict breaking out or which contacts to safeguard Mexico's interests. "All of this is a skill, a training that a short course cannot replace". The ambassador was questioned about cases of workplace harassment against appointed diplomats, such as the ambassador to the United Kingdom, Josefa González-Blanco, or the consul in Istanbul, Isabel Arvide, which the government refused to investigate. "The law establishes that certain attitudes of workplace harassment must be sanctioned, and on that point we have been very clear, without making any distinction, whether career or appointed personnel". He also spoke out in favor of the federal government conducting a review of diplomatic staff salaries in 2026, as the last one was in 1998, and in a globalized world Mexican migration is common, and there is greater demand for services. "While it is true that this practice of giving a training course to the heads of embassies and consulates who go abroad is useful, it definitely does not replace the other elements, does it?" The training course given by the Matías Romero Institute to politically appointed diplomats—such as those placed by the '4T'—does not replace the entire training that career diplomats have, stated Gerardo Lozano, president of the Mexican Foreign Service Association (ASEM) in an interview with El Financiero. "The existence of a career foreign service has a logic. I think it is not sufficient... The success of a mission is closely related to the expertise that is acquired over time in the service". He mentioned that for career personnel, becoming an ambassador takes between 25 and 30 years.
