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Officials are set to strike a new deal to address the root causes of the violence during the US Secretary of State’s visit to Mexico.
United States and Mexico set to sign new security agreement for drug cartel violence and other matters during US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to Mexico City.
Friday’s day-long visit comes as both countries have indicated their willingness to reshuffle the 13-year-old Merida Initiative, under which the United States provided military firepower, technical support and security training to combat crime, particularly cartel violence.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, State Department spokesman Ned Price said “we believe we need to review our bilateral security cooperation.”
He added that Washington wants the “significant gains” made by the Merida Initiative “preserved, that this cooperation be deepened and that we have an updated approach that takes into account today’s threats”.
The United States has given Mexico $ 3 billion for the program since 2008.
Meanwhile, more than 300,000 people have been murdered in cartel-related violence since the Mexican government deployed the military to the war on drugs in 2006.
Some experts believe that the militarization strategy failed because it resulted in the fragmentation of the cartels into smaller and more violent cells, without stopping the drug trade.
Root causes
Blinken, who is traveling with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, is due to meet Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard.
The two Mexican officials called for an end to the Merida Initiative, which they see as a relic of the past, and for a new agreement focused on financing development and other root causes of crime and migration.
Lopez Obrador, in June, said Mexico did not want a new deal to be “like it used to be when they brought us a gunship and a photo was taken of the US ambassador with the president.” .
Officials from both countries said they were developing a new framework that will take a more holistic approach to tackling crime, while tackling a wider range of issues than the previous initiative.
Developed in recent months, the new framework did not provide for Mexico to receive military materiel or funds, and instead focused on information exchange, interagency cooperation and staff training, a Mexican official said. to the Reuters news agency.
A senior Biden administration official, who informed reporters on condition of anonymity on Thursday, said Washington called the new initiative part of the Mexican-American bicentennial for safety, public health and safe communities.
After Friday’s talks, Washington will develop an action plan by December 1 and then expects a three-year bilateral framework and plan to be agreed by January 30 next year. , officials said.
The deal is also expected to focus heavily on migrant smuggling.
Foreign Minister Ebrard, meanwhile, said Mexico would push the United States to do more to stem the illegal arms flow in Mexico and speed up the extraditions requested by Mexican prosecutors under the new agreement.
Friday’s visit comes after US-Mexican security cooperation suffered a heavy blow last October when US anti-narcotics agents stopped former Mexican Minister of Defense Salvador Cienfuegos.
The arrest took the Lopez Obrador administration by surprise and fueled Mexico’s longstanding concerns about US anti-narcotics agents encroaching on its sovereignty. This prompted the Mexican Congress to pass a law to make it more difficult for American agents to work on Mexican soil.
U.S. officials have since complained that efforts to fight powerful cartels have been hampered by fraying relationships and the inability of U.S. agents to move freely in Mexico.
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