Politics: Border violence, blame for illicit fentanyl trade stokes crisis in US-Mexican security collaboration
Mexican-US relations have become strained in the past few weeks. While there have been disagreements in the recent past over immigration, economic issues, Washington’s perceived intervention in Latin America, and human rights issues, recent developments in security and anti-drug efforts have put a question mark on future bilateral cooperation.
The issue that sparked the recent discord has been drug trafficking, specifically that of fentanyl. President Andrés Manuel Lopez’s strategy of “hugs not bullets” is widely viewed by many in the United States as inefficient at best, and facilitating the activity of drug cartels at worst.
The March 3 kidnapping of four U.S. citizens in Matamoros by members of a drug cartel put the spotlight on the issue of public security in Mexico. Republican legislators have called for categorizing drug trafficking networks as terrorist organizations, which under U.S. law would allow Washington to militarily intervene in Mexico. The Biden administration, however, has been a voice of moderation, not keen on endorsing measures it feels would be counterproductive and only escalate the existing mutual distrust.
AMLO’s response, however, was to play the nationalist card and raise the specter of U.S. military intervention. He argued that the fentanyl problem is a question of U.S. consumption and it is the U.S. market for such drugs that fuels the activities of Mexican drug cartels. This hard stance has made it difficult to reduce the confrontation between the two governments.
Both countries will hold presidential elections in 2024. Whether Morena is returned to office or Republicans win the race in the United States will largely determine short and medium-term bilateral relations. For the time being, however, it is the cartels who are the winners in the ongoing dispute.
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