Hollande in Mexico to repair relations but Trierweiler tweet could mean new row

French President François Hollande is in Mexico on Thursday and Friday for a state visit to repair relationsbetween the two countries after a long-running row over an imprisoned Frenchwoman. But Hollande's former partner, Valérie Trierweiler, has raised another case that could cause discord.

French Preésident François Hollande (L.) with Mexicao's Foreign Affairs Miniser Antonio Meade (R.) at Mexico City airport on Thursday AFP/ Yuri Cortez

Mexico pulled out of a cultural festival in 2012, the Year of Mexico in France, because then president Nicolas Sarkozy declared it would be dedicated to freeing Florence Cassez, who was held in a Mexican prison for seven years on a kidnapping conviction.

Mexico considered France to be meddling in its internal affairs.

Cassez was eventually released in January 2013 after the Mexican Supreme Court ruled her rights had been violated.

The first state visit by a French president since her release is aimed at renewing ties with Latin America’s second-biggest economy.

France exported some 2.4 billion euros of goods to Mexico in 2013.

Hollande, who visited Brazil last year, is increasingly looking to Latin America for trade links, Sébastien Velaut, the director of the Sorbonne Institute for Latin American Studies, told RFI.

Hollande's former partner has urged him to act on another potentially troublesome case, however.

Valérie Trierweiler has tweeted a call to raise the case of Maude Versini, who has accused her ex-husband, Arturo Montiel, of kidnapping their three children.

Montiel is a politician and former governor of the state of Mexico and Versini describes him as the "political godfather" of President Enrique Pena Nieto.