By Heidi J. Smith

Ties that Bind while working During a Crisis

Heidi Smith @heydeesmeet

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador along with a group of high-level diplomats met on October 8th with U.S.  Secretary of State Antony Blinken, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for a discussion of security issues that face both nations.

Recovering from the Cienfuegos debacle in Mexico is akin to the US-Ukrainian-Russian scandal from President Trump’s time in office. The idea that a former Security official was convicted in the United States of drug trafficking leaves many Mexicans with a bad taste in their mouths. Something that many knew happened at the highest levels but few wanted to admit. Mexican society is polarized over whether President Lopez Obrador (commonly known as AMLO) should have let him go or not. AMLO’s actions further reminded voters of the overtly powerful administrative capacities his decisions have in all areas of society.

In the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, “Fast and furious” was one of the most important decision-making points for voters and was a key talking point for many Mexicans and Americans living in Mexico. The Obama-era policy that slipped guns into Mexico to see where the cartel was moving made many Mexicans mad. National legislation makes guns illegal in Mexico and was a point of departure for those willing to vote for Trump over Biden. 

Of the star-filled cast of Blinken, Garland, and Mayorkas that went to Mexico for the security meetings the most important and least discussed is the newly appointed Assistant Secretary of Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols for his composure and importance in the region. More confirmations are needed to make the region actively engaged in US policy and many positions are now waiting for confirmation in the US Congress but are currently being blocked Republican cohort in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Yet, this could change with the Filibuster approval in the senate awaiting the budget ceiling discussions. 

While the American delegation’s visit to Mexico seemed symbolic, their public exposure to the Mexican perspective showed that Americans care about Mexico. Especially at this time when coronavirus is killing 800-1000 people a day, few have received both vaccine shots, schools and stores are still only partially open for business. 

While the Merida initiative was highly claimed as a successful program among Americans for a clear step towards collaboration with the Mexican government, Mexicans have a different take on the collaboration.  Some view it as both countries trying to pay attention to the root sources of crime coming from neighbors from the south. Yet, others saw the program as wasteful, so much so that in the previous Peña Nieto government wanted to accommodate similar policies with Mexican funds alone. The program modernized legal systems, decentralized police and created authentic forensic teams to study crime scenes, funded defense attorneys, and even charged the due process system of justice, which improved the quality of human rights across Mexico even with the same number of disappeared exists today. 

Still above all the programs further strengthens the US-Mexico ties as this is the first binational meeting after the High-level Economic Dialogue that began last month. Hopefully, these new ties will continue to grow under AMLO and Biden's leadership. Both governments will have elections at the presidential level in 2024. 

This action is important because in 2024 both countries faces presidential elections. Mexico’s elections are in July and America’s are in November. What’s more in the US, the Latino vote will be the majority-minority vote and in Mexico, the election will be a plebiscite on the current president’s work of the fourth transformation (4T) as his mandate is called. For both countries, these talks are indispensable and should not be taken for granted.