International
U.S. officials discuss fentanyl and migration in Mexico
October 5 |
Senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, were in Mexico on Wednesday for talks with Mexican officials on drug trafficking and a humanitarian crisis on the U.S. southern border.
Blinken will be joined by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. The U.S. delegation will meet with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Rosa Icela Rodriguez, Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection.
The meeting comes at a time of growing tension between the two nations. The United States is in the midst of an opioid addiction epidemic that claims more than 100,000 lives each year. Most of the deaths are attributable to fentanyl, a potent narcotic trafficked across the border by Mexico-based drug cartels.
At the same time, the southern border of the United States faces a daily flood of migrants, often in the thousands, who use Mexico as a jumping-off point for their efforts to enter the United States, either illegally or to seek asylum as refugees.
The dual problem has led some U.S. political leaders to call for aggressive action, with several Republican candidates for the presidential nomination advocating military intervention.
Fentanyl charges
In an indication of the global nature of the fentanyl problem, Garland held a press conference at the Justice Department on Tuesday and announced that charges had been filed against eight Chinese companies and 12 individuals for their role in selling fentanyl precursors – the chemical compounds. from which the drug is synthesized – to buyers in Mexico.
It was the second time since June that the United States has brought charges against Chinese companies supplying fentanyl precursors to criminal organizations in Mexico.
“We know who is responsible for poisoning the American people with fentanyl,” Garland said. “And we know that this global fentanyl supply chain, which ends in the deaths of Americans, often starts with chemical companies in China.”
As of August of this year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has seized more than 25,500 pounds of fentanyl entering the U.S., nearly double the amount seized in the same period last year. The amount of fentanyl seized in the US has increased by 800% since 2019, according to the Department of Homeland Security, with most of it coming from Mexico.
Unlike other drugs, such as cocaine and marijuana, whose raw materials must be grown on acres of farmland, fentanyl labs are small and easy to hide. And because the drug is so potent (50 times more potent than heroin), it is also easier to transport.
In addition, the United States and Mexico are looking for ways to cooperate on the issue of human migration. In recent years, the flow of economic migrants and asylum seekers through Mexico to the U.S. border has become a flood.
After plummeting to fewer than 500,000 during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, attempts to cross the southern border, whether legally or illegally, have skyrocketed in recent years. In 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials encountered 1.7 million people attempting to cross the southern land border. That number increased to 2.4 million in 2022, and the numbers for 2023 are on track to be even higher.
Mexican resistance
Among other actions, U.S. officials are expected to ask their Mexican counterparts to deploy more law enforcement personnel to interdict shipments of fentanyl precursors and shut down laboratories where the drug is produced.
The reception is likely to be cool. The Mexican government, including López Obrador, has openly criticized U.S. politicians who campaign on drug and immigration issues, accusing them of making their country a scapegoat for the United States’ own problem.
López Obrador has referred to the opioid epidemic in the United States as a result of “social decadence.”
International
U.S. warns China over Taiwan during high-level defense talks in Kuala Lumpur
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth expressed concerns over China’s growing military activity near Taiwan during a meeting on Friday with Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun in Kuala Lumpur.
“It was a constructive and positive meeting,” Hegseth wrote on X. “I emphasized the importance of maintaining a balance of power in the Indo-Pacific and raised U.S. concerns about China’s actions around Taiwan,” the self-governed island that Beijing claims and does not rule out invading.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting-Plus, one day after U.S. President Donald Trump met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea. According to Trump, Taiwan was not discussed during their talks.
“The United States does not seek conflict and will continue to firmly defend its interests, ensuring it maintains the capability to do so in the region,” Hegseth added in his message.
Friday’s encounter followed a September 9 video call between Hegseth and Dong. Their previously planned meeting at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore was canceled due to Dong’s absence from the event.
Trump’s sit-down with Xi — their first since 2019 — resulted in some trade agreements but avoided addressing the issue of Taiwan, a long-standing source of tension between the world’s two largest powers.
Trump has taken a more ambiguous stance on Taiwan’s future compared with former President Joe Biden, who repeatedly stated that Washington would support Taipei if China launched an invasion. The Republican president has also criticized Taiwan for “stealing” the U.S. semiconductor industry.
International
U.S. considering airstrikes on military sites in Venezuela, reports say
The United States may soon carry out airstrikes on military facilities inside Venezuela as part of an escalating offensive against Nicolás Maduro’s regime, according to reports Friday from the Miami Herald and The Wall Street Journal, citing sources close to the Trump administration.
Airstrikes could take place “within days or even hours,” the Herald reported. The Journal noted that while the option is under serious consideration, President Donald Trump has not yet made a final decision on authorizing strikes on Venezuelan soil.
Potential targets allegedly include military-controlled ports and airports used in drug trafficking operations, such as naval installations and airstrips, officials told the Journal.
The Herald also quoted a source saying that “Maduro’s time is running out”, suggesting that more than one Venezuelan general may be ready to detain and hand him over. However, officials declined to confirm whether the Venezuelan leader would be among the military targets.
Trump has repeatedly vowed to block the flow of illegal drugs into the United States, following nearly two months of airstrikes against vessels in the Pacific and the Caribbean. Those operations have destroyed 15 boats and left 61 people dead and three survivors since September 1.
“We are finally waging a war against the cartels — a war like they’ve never seen before — and we are going to win that battle. We are already winning at sea,” Trump told U.S. troops during a speech in Japan.
The reports on possible airstrikes come on the same day the United Nations accused the U.S. of violating international law with its maritime operations, saying those killed at sea may have been victims of extrajudicial executions.
International
Pope Leo XIV revives Global Compact on Education to confront cultural crisis
Pope Leo XIV announced on Friday that he will revive and update the Global Compact on Education, an initiative launched by the late Pope Francis aimed at deeply transforming global culture through education.
The announcement was made during an audience in St. Peter’s Square, held on the occasion of the Jubilee of the Educational World, which this week gathers more than 20,000 participants from 124 countries in Rome.
During his address, the pontiff — who is of U.S. origin and Peruvian nationality — emphasized the importance of restoring the value of educators and reinforcing the principles that support the pact.
“We must be careful: damaging the social and cultural role of educators means mortgaging our own future,” he warned before thousands in attendance. “A crisis in the transmission of knowledge leads to a crisis of hope.”
The Global Compact on Education, launched by Pope Francis, seeks an integral and long-term cultural transformation. It is structured around five pillars: dignity and human rights; fraternity and cooperation; technology and integral ecology; education for peace and citizenship; and culture and religions. To date, the initiative has been joined by over 553 schools and nearly 410,000 students, according to Catholic Schools data.
Pope Leo XIV also expressed concern over the widespread inner fragility affecting both students and teachers — many of whom feel overwhelmed by bureaucratic burdens.
He additionally addressed the role of artificial intelligence in education, warning that it may worsen emotional isolation among learners: “It can further isolate students who are already isolated, giving them the illusion that they do not need others — or worse, the feeling that they are unworthy of them,” he said.
U.S. warns China over Taiwan during high-level defense talks in Kuala Lumpur
U.S. considering airstrikes on military sites in Venezuela, reports say
Pope Leo XIV revives Global Compact on Education to confront cultural crisis
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