Queen Beatrix is on a state visit to Mexico this week. The Central American country has had to wait 45 years for a new visit from Dutch royalty, which is remarkable considering Mexico’s close economic ties with the Netherlands. Nevertheless the question is being asked as to whether this was a good time to go.
 
The queen will be in the country of tacos and tequila for five days. She is accompanied by her eldest son, Prince Willem-Alexander, and his wife Princess Máxima, as well as the Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen and a large trade delegation. Not a bad idea, says Gabriel Rosenzweig from the Mexican embassy in The Hague, who has been closely involved in the preparations for the visit. 
 
Long ago
"The Netherlands is our tenth most important trade partner in the world and the third in the European Union, after Spain and Germany. The Netherlands is also the third main investor after the United States and Spain," says Mr Rosenzweig.
 
Mexico is one of Latin America’s most important countries and its second largest economy. Looked at from the perspective it is remarkable that the Dutch monarch has not visited the country before. The last state visit was 45 years ago, when Beatix went along as a princess. Since then various Mexican presidents have visited the Netherlands. So it’s high time for a visit.
 
Violence
The question is whether now is a good time to visit. "Mexico makes the headlines almost daily because of the (drugs-related) crisis and violence," says Wil Pansters, professor at Groningen University and one of the academics who prepared the queen for the trip.
 
The number of murders in the drug war has exceeded 6000. The Mexican government has deployed the army to tackle the mafia and kidnappings are a daily occurrence. But Gabriel Rosenzweig thinks now is a perfect time to visit Mexico.
 
Independence
"It is a very good moment for Mexico because we are about to celebrate two centuries of independence from Spain, in 2010. Violence is only a problem in certain places. It is not at all dangerous for the queen, tourists or a majority of Mexicans," says Mr Rosenzweig.

After all, the queen’s visit is a good opportunity to show a different side of Mexico rather than the stereotype of a country in crisis, with its earthquakes, drugs, violence and deaths, agrees Professor Pansters.
 
Guanajuato
In addition to a meeting with the Mexican President Felipe Calderón, the queen will lay a wreath at a war monument. She will also visit the Anthropological Museum, the picturesque village of Guanajuato and the Aztec temples of Toetihuacan. But there is also room for an extensive look at the miserable conditions the ethnic Indian minority population is forced to live in.

Photo: ANP