Mexico, America and the Security Dilemma

Published in Milenio
(Mexico) on 30 September 2021
by Carlos Puig (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Lisa Carrington. Edited by Gillian Palmer.
Next Friday, Oct. 8, the High-Level Security Dialogue between the U.S. and Mexico will take place in Mexico City. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Attorney General Merrick Garland will represent America. It’s a weighty delegation.

At a banquet on Sept. 29 following another event, Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said, “The main agenda is a memorandum of understanding that we have been working on with the U.S., about which priorities we can agree on when it comes to the approach to security.” He also warned, “The basis of the Mérida Initiative, its main objectives and context are now superseded by this new Mexico-U.S. meeting.” He said that the foundation for the meeting is “mutual respect.”

He also made it clear that immigration will not be discussed as part of this meeting, which is good, because as he said, there is nothing worse than mixing subjects n such a complicated relationship. The Americans are coming to the meeting during a complicated political time for President Joe Biden. Congress is in the midst of a budget battle which follows 2020, a year that saw a record number of homicides. This is a time when, despite legal and media scandals surrounding synthetic drug use, consumption of these and other drugs remains on the rise.

Mexico is not having its finest moment either, in terms of security. The issues include the number of homicides, territorial expansion of organized crime in several areas of the country, incidents in the Pacific zone during and after the election, and what may happen if certain rumors are true.*

Although it is true that immigration is the most important subject for the United States, security is the most difficult issue, and has caused most of the friction between the two countries for many years. The Mexican government has not forgotten about the arrest of Salvador Cienfuegos, and Americans’ distrust of the government’s strategy is very clear.

The next few years do not look good for security in either country. The question, beyond dealing with concrete strategies, is whether confidence can be restored in this environment that would allow the countries to collaborate constructively in a way that produces results, something that simply has not happened for the past three years.

*Translator's Note: It is unclear what rumors the author is making reference to.


México, EU y el dilema de la seguridad
El próximo viernes 8 de octubre en Ciudad de México se celebrará el Diálogo de Seguridad de Alto Nivel entre México y Estados Unidos. Del lado de los americanos participarán el secretario de Estado, Antony Blinken; el secretario de Seguridad Nacional, Alejandro Mayorkas, y el fiscal general, Merrick Garland. La delegación está pesada.

Ayer en una banquetera, después de otro evento, el canciller Marcelo Ebrard dijo: “La agenda principal es un documento de entendimiento que hemos venido trabajando junto con EU sobre cuáles son las prioridades en el enfoque de seguridad en las que podemos coincidir”. Y advirtió: “Lo que fue el fundamento de la Iniciativa Mérida, sus objetivos principales, su contexto, queda ya superado con este nuevo encuentro México-EU”. Y dijo que la base es el “respeto mutuo”.

Y dejó claro que la migración no será parte de esta reunión, lo cual está bien, porque como él lo dijo, nada peor que mezclar temas en una relación tan complicada. Los estadunidenses llegan en momentos políticos complicados para Joseph Biden. En medio de una lucha en el Congreso por el presupuesto después de 2020, en el que se rompió récord de homicidios y en tiempos en que, a pesar de los escándalos legales y mediáticos alrededor del consumo de drogas sintéticas, el consumo de éstas y otras drogas sigue creciendo.

México tampoco está en el mejor momento en términos de seguridad. Los números de homicidios, la expansión territorial de la delincuencia organizada en varias zonas del país, los incidentes en la zona del Pacífico durante y después de las elecciones y lo que puede suceder si lo que se rumora es cierto.

Si bien es cierto que la migración es el asunto que más importa a los estadunidenses, el asunto de la seguridad es el más duro y el que mayores fricciones causa desde hace muchos años. La detención de Salvador Cienfuegos sigue en el ánimo del gobierno mexicano, y la desconfianza de los estadunidenses a la estrategia del gobierno es muy clara.

Pero los próximos años no se ven nada bien para la seguridad en ambos países. La pregunta, más allá de estrategias concretas, es si se podrá en este ambiente recobrar la confianza que permita la colaboración concreta que traiga resultados que, en estos tres años, simplemente no existen.

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