Brief history of Western Sahara Both Mexico and
Western Sahara were once part of the
Spanish Empire. Since 1884, Spain claimed the land of
Western Sahara (also known as
Spanish Sahara) and administered it until 1975. In November 1975, Spain agreed to partition part of the territory to
Morocco and to
Mauritania after it was agreed at the
Madrid Accords. That same month, 350,000 Moroccans and 20,000 Moroccan troops held the “
Green March” into Spanish Sahara to force Spain to hand over the disputed territory. Spain soon withdrew from the territory. In February 1976 the
Polisario Front (a political movement of the
Saharawi people) established and declared a government in exile in
Algeria and named their country the "Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic" (SADR).
Diplomatic relations attending the inauguration ceremony of President
Enrique Peña Nieto; 2012. In 1975, representatives of the SADR visited Mexico to obtain support for independence. In 1978, Saharai Foreign Minister, Bachir Mustafá Sayed, paid a visit to Mexico. On 8 September 1979, during VI Conference of nations of the
Non-Aligned Movement; Mexican Foreign Minister
Jorge Castañeda y Álvarez de la Rosa declared that Mexico recognized the SADR as a state within the international community. In 2024, both nations celebrated 45 years of diplomatic relations.
Visits In March 2010, a Saharawi delegation arrived to Mexico and met with
Mexican Senators, including Senator
Yeidckol Polevnsky Gurwitz (vice-president of the Mexican Senate Commission on Foreign Relations with
Africa) to discuss the situation in SADR. That same month, President of the Mexican Senate,
Carlos Navarrete Ruiz, paid a visit to Algeria and met with SADR President
Mohamed Abdelaziz and traveled to Tindouf Province to visit the Sahrawi refugee camps and access their needs. In December 2012, President Abdelaziz returned to Mexico to attend the inauguration of President
Enrique Peña Nieto. In March 2013, Sahrawi Foreign Minister Mohamed Salem Ould Salek visited Mexico and met with his counterpart
José Antonio Meade at the headquarters of the Mexican
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2014, a Mexican delegation made up of
Deputies, paid a visit to the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf Province, Algeria. A second Mexican delegation paid a visit to the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf Province, Algeria in January 2017. In December 2018, Sahrawi President
Brahim Ghali paid a visit to Mexico to attend the inauguration of President
Andrés Manuel López Obrador. In October 2024, Prime Minister Bucharaya Hamudi Sidina visited Mexico to attend the inauguration of President
Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo. ==High-level visits==