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There’s nearly 7,000 miles (about 11,265 km) between the US state New Mexico and Azerbaijan. But the distance between the two belies an increasing political coziness. Mary Kay Papen, a top-ranking New Mexico state lawmaker, was one of the delegation members to travel to Azerbaijan on a paid-for trip, according to an article published on Albuquerque Journal.

Though Papen insists that the paid-for trips have been educational and says they have not been pressured to provide something in return, the author of the article points that during each of the past three years, New Mexico legislators have approved nonbinding memorials ‘extolling the virtues’ of Azerbaijan. The recent memorials described the government of Azerbaijan as having fostered an “environment of tolerance, mutual acceptance and respect.”

The author highlights that although the memorials do not carry legal weight, copies of them were sent to the US President Barack Obama, the US ambassador to Azerbaijan and other officials. However, Azerbaijan has plenty of critics. It was recently listed as one of the 10 most censored countries in the world by the Committee to Protect Journalists, along with North Korea, Saudi Arabia, China, Iran and others. “Several critical journalists fled the country in 2014, and those remaining faced attacks and harassment, were banned from traveling, or were prosecuted on fabricated charges,” the group said in its report. Amnesty International said in its report on Azerbaijan that authorities there had imprisoned government critics, journalists and political activists. The organization also cited reports of torture and other “ill-treatment” of protesters and opposition leaders.

According to the article, Papen said that she is aware of the outside criticism but that she did not think it a reason to cut ties with Azerbaijan.

The author notes that a 2014 BuzzFeed report found that Azerbaijan was one of the top 10 foreign spenders on lobbying in the United States in 2013, having spent more than $2 million on such efforts. New Mexico sent 25 delegates to a 2013 conference titled “U.S.-Azerbaijan Convention: Vision for the Future” held in the country’s capital, Baku, according to a report in the monthly newspaper The Washington Diplomat. Legislators from other states have also been invited on the 10-day trips, which are paid for by the Azerbaijan government.

The author of the article points that Azerbaijani-affiliated groups do not appear in the state’s index of registered lobbyists. However, the Assembly of the Friends of Azerbaijan reported that about 25 legislators attended a Roundhouse dinner reception organized by Azerbaijan. In addition, Nasimi Aghayev, Azerbaijan’s consul general in Los Angeles, posted a picture of himself and Papen in the Senate gallery with the caption, “With Senator Mary Kay Papen of New Mexico – great friend of Azerbaijan and all other freedom-loving nations.”

Ken Gleria, a member of the Armenian Cultural Association of New Mexico and church council member of the Armenian Church of Albuquerque, blasted the Legislature’s recent memorials as misleading. “Azerbaijani lobbyists are introducing absurd resolutions throughout the nation, not because of their veracity or because of deep ties between Americans and Azerbaijanis, but rather due the well-financed and influential lobby which has emerged in light of Azerbaijan’s growth as an oil-producing nation,” Gleria wrote in a letter to Albuquerque Journal.

However, according to the article, the pro-Azerbaijan memorials have met with resistance in some other states. Hawaii lawmakers, for instance, rejected a similar resolution in 2014.

Earlier, it was found out that the state-owned oil company of Azerbaijan, SOCAR, secretly funded an all-expenses-paid trip to a conference in Baku, on the Caspian Sea in May 2013, for 10 members of Congress and 32 staff members. Three former top aides to President Obama appeared as speakers at the event. The lawmakers and their staff members received hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of travel expenses, silk scarves, crystal tea sets and Azerbaijani rugs valued at $2,500 to $10,000.

Related:
The Washington Post: State Oil Company of Azerbaijan secretly spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on US Congressmen 
Corporate Europe Observatory: Azerbaijan spends millions on international PR to whitewash repressions in country