International
US, Mexico seek to revamp fight against drug cartels
AFP
The United States and Mexico on Friday vowed to overhaul their joint fight against drug cartels, during a visit by a high-level delegation including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has said Mexico no longer wants helicopter gunships and other weapons to combat drug traffickers, urging the United States to invest in regional economic development instead.
On his first visit to Mexico as the top US diplomat, Blinken, accompanied by officials including US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, held a working breakfast with Lopez Obrador followed by the main security talks.
Lopez Obrador hailed a “new phase” in relations, reiterating an invitation to US President Joe Biden to visit Mexico.
Washington has indicated that it is ready to revamp a 13-year-old program called the Merida Initiative that provided US military firepower, technical support and security training.
“After 13 years of the Merida Initiative, it’s time for a comprehensive new approach to our security cooperation, one that will see us as equal partners in defining our shared priorities, tackle the root drivers of these challenges, like inequity, like corruption, and focus not only on strengthening law enforcement but also public health, the rule of law, inclusive economic opportunities,” Blinken said.
He said more needed to be done to disrupt arms trafficking, strengthen port and border security, dismantle the cartels’ financial systems, root out impunity, tackle human rights abuses and address public health issues such as addiction.
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said it was time to say “goodbye to the Merida Initiative, welcome to the Bicentennial Agreement” — a reference to the Latin American country’s recent 200th independence anniversary.
The United States has given Mexico about $3 billion since 2008 for law enforcement training and equipment such as Black Hawk helicopters.
Lopez Obrador argues that investing in development projects in the region would help counter not only drug trafficking but also migrant flows — another major challenge facing the two countries.
Underscoring the magnitude of the crisis, Mexican authorities said Friday they had detained 652 undocumented migrants, more than half of them children, traveling toward the US border in refrigerated truck containers.
– Merida Initiative ‘dead’ –
Mexico will use the talks to push for steps to speed up extraditions between the two countries and reduce the flow of arms from the United States, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said this week.
In August, Mexico filed an unprecedented lawsuit against major US gunmakers in a Boston court over illegal cross-border arms flows that it blames for fueling drug-related violence.
Mexico is plagued by cartel-related bloodshed that has seen more than 300,000 people murdered since the government deployed the military in the war on drugs in 2006.
Many experts believe the strategy of militarization has failed because it has resulted in the cartels being fragmented into smaller, more violent cells, while drugs continue to flood into the United States.
The new security framework will focus “not just on crime, but also on the underlying cause of crime,” a senior US administration official said.
“We’re going to be looking at ways we can increase joint efforts to decrease demand for narcotics,” he said.
The two countries would continue to pursue the cartels, including their laboratories and supply chains, the official said.
But the new strategy would put more emphasis on stopping flows of firearms and drug money from the United States to Mexico, in order to “deny revenue to these cartels,” he added.
Forging a new joint strategy will not be easy, said Michael Shifter, president of the US-based think-tank Inter-American Dialogue.
“The Merida Initiative is indeed dead,” he said.
“Mexico is expected to press for significant US assistance and investment in the southern part of the country, but with budget pressures and other priorities in Washington, US officials are unlikely to be receptive,” he said.
International
Trump replaces Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem with Senator Markwayne Mullin
U.S. President Donald Trump announced Thursday the departure of Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security, one of the key architects of the administration’s policy of deporting undocumented immigrants.
Noem, who has been assigned a new role as a “special envoy” to Latin America, will be replaced starting March 31 by Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin, the president said in a message posted on his social media platform Truth Social.
According to media reports, Trump made the decision after Noem’s recent hearings in Congress, during which she faced tough questions regarding the awarding of a major public contract.
International
Young Woman Will Represent Mexico at 2026 World Cup Opener, Says President Sheinbaum
Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, announced Thursday that the young Mexican woman who proves to have the best ball control skills will receive her personal ticket to the opening match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Mexico City.
The left-wing leader had previously said she would not attend the tournament’s opening game on June 11 in the Mexican capital and instead planned to give away the ticket number 00001, reserved for her by FIFA.
During her morning press conference, Sheinbaum explained that women between 16 and 25 years old can participate by submitting a video through an official platform.
“What do they have to do? Keep the ball in the air for one minute,” she said, referring to the soccer juggling challenge that will determine the winner.
Among the judges selecting the winner will be Mexican striker Charlyn Corral, the world’s top female scorer who set a ball-control record in 2005, and professional referee Katia Itzel García.
Sheinbaum also revealed that she plans to watch the opening match during a large public gathering with giant screens in the Zócalo, located in the historic center near the presidential palace.
“Very few people will be able to attend the opening. So I will watch it here with the people, and a young woman will represent me and the people of Mexico,” the president said.
Sheinbaum has previously commented on the high cost of World Cup tickets, as well as the difficulty of obtaining them in a metropolitan area with more than 20 million inhabitants.
In the 2026 tournament, jointly hosted by United States, Mexico, and Canada, Mexico will stage 13 matches in Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey.
The opening match will take place at the legendary Estadio Azteca, which previously hosted World Cup opening ceremonies in 1970 and 1986, occasions when the presidents in attendance were famously booed by the crowd.
International
Claudia Sheinbaum: Operation Against ‘El Mencho’ Was Based on Pending Arrest Warrants
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday rejected claims that the military operation that resulted in the death of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), was carried out under pressure from the United States government.
Sheinbaum explained that the deployment of federal forces was aimed at executing outstanding arrest warrants against Oseguera Cervantes, who was considered one of the most wanted criminals in both Mexico and the United States.
“That was not the objective (to ease pressure from the United States). It is very important, and I want to repeat it. This individual had an arrest warrant, or several,” Sheinbaum said, referring to the operation conducted on February 22.
According to the president, the initial goal was to capture Oseguera Cervantes, but military forces responded after coming under attack during the intervention.
“The operation was to detain him. The problem is that they were attacked — the Secretariat of National Defense — and they responded at that moment,” she said.
The president insisted that the action was not carried out in response to external demands, although she acknowledged intelligence cooperation with the United States.
“It was not done in any way because of pressure from the United States, not at all. Of course, there was intelligence information from the United States that was used specifically,” she concluded.
Trump replaces Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem with Senator Markwayne Mullin
Young Woman Will Represent Mexico at 2026 World Cup Opener, Says President Sheinbaum
Claudia Sheinbaum: Operation Against ‘El Mencho’ Was Based on Pending Arrest Warrants
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