Updated

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto is paying a state visit to France this week amid the shock of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's dramatic escape from a maximum security prison in Mexico.

Pena Nieto came to Paris to celebrate Bastille Day — France's most important national event — on Tuesday as French President François Hollande's guest of honor.

The Mexican president spoke Monday at Paris' Latin American Cultural Center and received a medal from the Sorbonne. He will meet Hollande, Prime Minister Manuel Valls and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and participate in a forum with France's largest employers' group, MEDEF.

Aside from the political trouble caused by the jailbreak, the Mexican president will also face protests in Paris by activists who call his government authoritarian and corrupt.