MCALLEN, RGV – The Washington, D.C., office of U.S. Sen. John Cornyn on Wednesday released a photo of Texas’ senior senator visiting with Mexico’s new ambassador to the United States, Carlos Manuel Sada Solana.
There was no commentary or news release to accompany the image.
President Enrique Peña Nieto selected Sada to be Mexico’s top diplomat in the United States in April. Sada replaced Miguel Basañez, who had held the post for just seven months.
At the time of his appointment, news reports in Mexico suggested Sada’s brief was to be much more aggressive in defending his country from attacks by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
“The mandate I have is very clear and precise: defend the interest of Mexico and Mexicans,” said Sada, soon after his appointment was confirmed.
On Wednesday, Cornyn told reporters that Trump was not his first choice for the GOP presidential nomination. Cornyn did not say who his first choice was. Cornyn and other Senate Republicans are expected to meet with Trump on Thursday.
Another of his top priorities, Sada has said, is to promote a bilateral economic agenda in order to provide more opportunities for trade and investment to benefit Mexicans.
Prior to his appointment as ambassador, Sada was Mexico’s consul in Los Angeles. He served as consul in Toronto from 1989 to 1992 and held the same post in San Antonio, Texas, from 1995 to 2000 and Chicago from 2000 to 2007. He served as Mexico’s consul in New York from 2011 and moved to his Los Angeles post in 2013.
Sada earned a degree in industrial engineering from Universidad Iberoamericana and undertook graduate studies at England’s Newcastle University and Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.
He also attended the Institute of Public Administration at Leiden University in The Hague.
