Jared Kushner. Photo: commondreams.org

By RICARDO CASTILLO    

The purpose of U.S. presidential envoy Jared Kushner’s 12-hour trip to Mexico on Wednesday, March 7, remains a mystery. Traveling on a commercial airline all night, he arrived on time to meet with Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Videgaray for nearly three hours before both of them moved from downtown Mexico City to the presidential residence of Los Pinos. About the only known fact about this meeting is that the U.S. Embassy sent three bulletproof vans to bus Donald Trump’s son-in-law through the wild streets of Mexico City.

At Los Pinos, Kushner and President Enrique Peña Nieto had another three-hour meeting, in which they reviewed the “bilateral agenda” – isn’t this what the U.S. Embassy does on a daily basis? – and, in the end, there were no press briefings of any sort.

The gist of the visit was that there was no gist at all. Could it perhaps be that since his political demise in Washington, Jared Kushner may now be the next White House ambassador to Mexico? Listen, the way Trump runs the United States, it could happen, because other than his family,  most of his appointees are quitting, because, as my very much appreciated Las Vegas reporting partner and nowadays Atlantic reporter Molly Ball put it, “the grass is greener beyond the White House lawn.”

But in Mexico, the Kushner visitation has other meanings. Perhaps, as some reality politicos claim, he came to get his “moche,” or kickback, from Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Videgaray. Well, in Mexico, that’s the run of the mill, so it would not surprise anyone.

Other than that, what was the point of all this? Since all we know about the Kushner visit is hit and miss, we may assume that the trip to fix the “bilateral agenda” – whatever that may mean – was just another Trump hoax to pump up the wings of his fallen angel, namely, Jared Kushner.

The nice part of it is the makebelieve that Peña Nieto has a ticket to ride to the Oval Office!