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Mexico and the United States seek to seal a new security agreement and leave behind the so-called Merida Initiative, a cooperation program that dates back to the end of George W. Bush’s term and that in practice had been stagnant for years. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Mexico this Friday at the head of a delegation that will address a major issue to promote bilateral relations. After addressing a plan to promote economic recovery a month ago in Washington, the governments of Joe Biden and Andrés Manuel López Obrador are now exploring the way to update their common security agenda. The new agreement, which on the occasion of the 200 years of Mexico’s independence has been baptized as the “Bicentennial Framework for Security, Public Health and Safe Communities”, has, in essence, the purpose of reducing violence to both sides of the border.
Blinken’s visit, who will meet with the Mexican president and the chancellor, Marcelo Ebrard, culminates a cycle of preparatory meetings, held in recent months, in which the priorities of the two administrations emerged. The goal of the so-called “high-level” dialogue is to advance those conversations on “protecting US citizens, preventing cross-border crime, prosecuting criminal organizations, and promoting human rights and compliance. of the law, ”according to a statement from the White House. “This dialogue comes at a time when the threats of the 21st century are increasingly complex and do not understand borders.” It is the first meeting of its kind since Biden became president of the United States, last January, and a muddy situation was normalized by his predecessor, Donald Trump.
The López Obrador government has spent months trying to bury the Merida Initiative, which began in 2008 and which, despite including funds of $ 3 billion, failed or was not enough to sustain the strategy to fight drug trafficking. Mexico is facing a new crisis due to the intensification of the war between cartels, especially in the north of the country, where last week a camp with clandestine crematoriums was located between Nuevo Laredo and Texas. To this is added that in recent years Trump never had a shock plan against organized crime and focused on containing migration. On the other hand, the Mexican president’s security policy is governed by a principle that he himself called “hugs, not bullets,” which questions the priority that previous administrations gave to military operations.
Ebrard assured this week that Mexico seeks that the understanding with Washington is not “as asymmetrical” as it has been until now. His team brought to the pre-negotiation table 10 issues that include the reduction of murders, legal assistance, extraditions – which, he said, occur at a different pace. But, above all, it seeks to reach an agreement with the Biden Administration on the control of arms trafficking. “Don’t send me weapons, please … What we want is for no more weapons to come, not for more to come. 70% of the weapons, as we know, come from there ”, insisted the Secretary of Foreign Relations. In line with López Obrador’s political project, the Government seeks, in short, a framework of collaboration of mutual respect and without interference, they defend in the Foreign Ministry.
The activation of this security forum is a consequence of the meeting held in June between the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, and the Mexican president. At the meeting between Mexico and the United States, Blinken is accompanied by the Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, Attorney General Merrick Garland and other senior officials of the United States Administration. “I think this meeting is going to be very important. There are more and more coincidences that we must pay more attention to what is related to development and that the migratory phenomenon, the migratory problem, has to be addressed by creating job opportunities, well-being, in the migrants’ places of origin ”, he stated. this Thursday López Obrador. On this point there has been, until now, disagreement between both administrations, since Mexico defends a direct disbursement to the Central American countries while the White House makes the aid contingent on the performance of the recipient governments.
But the appointment arrives with the last still fresh manifestation of a chronic migratory crisis; the arrival of thousands of Haitians to the border with Texas in September was a new stress test for the relationship between the two countries, which share more than 3,000 kilometers of border. The Biden Administration, concerned about the advancement of the Delta variant of the coronavirus, reactivated Title 42 this August, which allows the express expulsion of migrants for health reasons. The rule was invoked in the first instance by Trump at the beginning of the pandemic. A federal judge stopped enforcement of that order on September 17.
Biden is not going through his prime. Added to the lowest approval ratings (38%) since he came to power are the difficulties in carrying out his recovery plans in terms of infrastructure and social protection, stranded in an internal struggle in the Democratic party between the conservative and the conservative wings. progressive. The president of the United States has achieved this Thursday at least a respite with the announcement of an agreement between Democrats and Republicans that will allow an extension of the debt ceiling. This momentarily removes the risk of suspension of payments in the US.
Foreign policy and the deal with Mexico are another front. Relations went through moments of tension just before the visit of Kamala Harris precisely because of the discordant priorities in economy, security, migration and fight against the pandemic. Biden made his White House debut in January amid the unrest generated by the case of former Mexican Defense Secretary Salvador Cienfuegos. The general was arrested last year in Los Angeles on charges of drug trafficking. A diplomatic negotiation achieved his quick return to Mexico, but once in the country the military man was exonerated by the Prosecutor’s Office of all charges.
In September the two governments resumed the economic dialogue table staging their proximity with a meeting in Washington. But now all the lights are on security, an increasingly pressing challenge especially after a long period of inaction.
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