Politics: UNGASS and Foreign Policy Disarray
President Enrique Peña Nieto’s approach to foreign relations has been a point of considerable controversy lately, with the most recent point of contention his initial decision early this month not to attend the upcoming U.N. General Assembly Special Session on Drugs, an event that had been moved up by three years, to this month, at the insistence of Mexico, Colombia and Guatemala. The UNGASS, which has the stated goal of coming up with new policies for designing an "integrated and balanced strategy to counter the world drug problem," is of particular importance to Mexico, which has paid a heavy price while trying to pursue the prohibitionist policies that the UN continues to endorse.
On Friday afternoon, less than four days before the UNGASS is to convene, it was announced that President Peña would travel to the special session after all. But how are we to explain the president’s reticence? Is it possible that he does not see a need to change policy, or perhaps that the administration has yet to come up with a sensible proposal despite the government’s six-month-old “national debate” on the matter?
A second major foreign relations decision that is stirring debate was the recent announcement that Mexico was replacing an ineffectual ambassador to the United States with a career diplomat at a time when political developments in the United States threaten to greatly complicate Mexico-US relations at all levels. Observers were dismayed, however, that the embassy reshuffling included the appointment of a deputy minister for North America with a background in corporate public relations but lacking any experience in diplomacy.
The violence associated with drug trafficking organizations has been the main factor damaging Mexico’s international image since it began to spiral to disproportional levels in 2008, but even on that front Mexico has made little headway due to its scant credibility and dire record on human rights and criminal justice issues. All the more reason why President Peña needed to attend the UNSGASS; hopefully he will take full advantage of the event to announce changes to his drug, security and human rights policies.
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