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
Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem claimed that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has deported “more than half a million” migrants due to pressure from former President Donald Trump.
During a cabinet meeting highlighting the “achievements” of Trump’s administration in its first 100 days, Noem asserted that under the Republican leader’s influence, “Mexico has finally come to the table” to negotiate on migration and fentanyl trafficking.
“The president of Mexico told me she has returned just over half a million people before they reached our border,” Noem stated, criticizing media reports that suggest the Biden administration deported more migrants than Trump’s.
“I wish those deportations were counted,” Noem added, “because those people never made it to our border—she sent them back because you made her.” She went on to thank Trump: “They never made it here because they got the message—because you were so aggressive.”
Noem has made controversial claims about Sheinbaum in the past, prompting the Mexican leader to refute them.
On April 1, Sheinbaum responded to one such statement by declaring, “The president answers to only one authority, and that is the people of Mexico,” after Noem said on Fox News that she gave Sheinbaum “a list of things Trump would like to see” and that Mexico’s actions would determine whether Trump granted tariff relief.
International
Vatican releases special “Sede Vacante” stamps ahead of papal transition
he Vatican’s post offices and select collector shops began selling special edition stamps this week to mark the period between the death of Pope Francis and the election of his successor.
Known as “Sede Vacante” stamps, they feature an image used on official Vatican documents during the interregnum between popes — two crossed keys without the papal tiara. These stamps went on sale Monday and will remain valid for postal use only until the new pontiff appears at the window overlooking St. Peter’s Square.
Until then, they can be used to send letters, postcards, and parcels. “Once the new pope is elected, the stamps lose their postal validity, but their collectible value rises,” said Francesco Santarossa, who runs a collectors’ shop across from St. Peter’s Square.
The Vatican has issued the stamps in four denominations: €1.25, €1.30, €2.45, and €3.20. Each is inscribed with “Città del Vaticano” and “Sede Vacante MMXXV” — Latin for “Vacant See 2025.”
International
Conclave to choose pope Francis’ successor could begin in early may
The conclave, which in the coming weeks must choose the successor to Pope Francis, will strictly follow a precise protocol refined over centuries.
The 135 cardinal electors, all under the age of 80, will cast their votes four times a day — except on the first day — until one candidate secures a two-thirds majority. The result will be announced to the world through the burning of the ballots with a chemical that produces the eagerly awaited white smoke, accompanied by the traditional cry of “Habemus Papam.”
The start date for the conclave could be announced today, as the cardinals are set to hold their fifth meeting since the pope’s passing. Luxembourg Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich suggested it could begin on May 5 or 6, following the traditional nine days of mourning. According to German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the conclave could last only “a few days.”
Although the late Argentine pontiff appointed the majority of the cardinal electors, this does not necessarily ensure the selection of a like-minded successor. Francis’ leadership style differed significantly from that of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, a German theologian who was less fond of large public gatherings. It also marked a contrast with the popular Polish pope, John Paul II.
The Argentine Jesuit’s reformist papacy drew strong criticism from more conservative sectors of the Church, who are hoping for a doctrinally focused shift. His tenure was marked by efforts to combat clerical sexual abuse, elevate the role of women and laypeople, and advocate for the poor and migrants, among other causes.
Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president
Vatican releases special “Sede Vacante” stamps ahead of papal transition
Conclave to choose pope Francis’ successor could begin in early may
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