Calderon’s Washington Agenda

This week the presidents of Mexico and the United States, Felipe Calderón and Barack Obama, will meet for the fifth time as heads of state. They are the leaders of two nations compelled by the imperatives of history, geography, time and circumstances to understand one another.

Unlike previous occasions, however, this meeting will be held in a less congenial atmosphere. Earlier, neither could have guessed how deeply the bitter struggle against the Mexican drug cartels or the WikiLeaks cables would divide the two countries.

The death of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Jaime Zapata will also be an inevitable topic at the White House, and later when Calderon meets with the Republican House majority leader, John Boehner, in the House of Representatives.

Adding to the inevitable tensions will be the dramatic policy differences still clouding relations between the two administrations.

The most important of these is the issue of cooperation between the federal agencies of the two nations. There is also the Obama administration’s almost impossible task of convincing Congress of the need to clamp down on the trafficking of arms to the Mexican drug cartels.

The meeting was scheduled for March 3 to accommodate news of the revolutions sweeping Egypt, Bahrain, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen.

Almost certainly, both leaders will close ranks in an effort to put Zapata’s death behind them, as well as to repair the damage caused by embarrassing revelations in the WikiLeaks documents.

This “closing of ranks” is very important, especially since the main beneficiaries of a rift between Mexico and the United States would be the drug cartels, which have long benefited from disagreements between the two nations.

Indeed, the threat posed by transnational criminal organizations was the main topic of discussion at a Feb. 28 forum between U.S. drug czar Gil Kerlikowske and Mexico’s ambassador to Washington, Arturo Sarhukán.

Under the heading of “Safety, Drugs and Democracy in Latin America,” the discussion at George Washington University addressed the risks faced not only by Mexico and the U.S., but by all nations in the region.

Joining Kerlikowske and Sarhukán were politicians and experts such as John Bailey, a professor at Georgetown University, and Andrew Selee, Director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center.

The debate will serve as a useful introduction to Calderon’s U.S. tour. On Wednesday, he will kick off his busy schedule of meetings with media representatives and business leaders, before meeting with President Obama at the White House.

At the end of his visit, Calderon will participate in a forum organized by the Woodrow Wilson Center and the Council of the Americas to discuss “The Current Economic and Political Situation in Mexico.”

In attendance will be analysts, politicians, academics and journalists interested in gaining a first-hand impression of the man leading “the struggle for the survival of the Mexican state,” as some have called Calderon’s crusade against the drug cartels.