Mexican President Receives US Delegation for Security Talks

This Thursday, the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador received at the National Palace the U.S. delegation headed by the Secretary of the State Department, Antony Blinken to participate in the High Level Security Dialogue between both countries.

RELATED:
White House to Allow Building Border Wall in Texas

Blinken was accompanied by White House Homeland Security Advisor, Liz Sherwood-Randall; U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, along with other senior government officials, such as Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro N. Mayorkas, Attorney General, Merrick Garland and the head of the State Department for Latin America, Brian Nichols. 

A private meeting with President López Obrador was followed by the High Level Security Dialogue, led by the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Rosa Icela Rodríguez on behalf of Mexico. 

Also present on the Mexican side were the Attorney General of the Republic, Alejandro Gertz Manero and the Secretary of the Interior, Luisa María Alcalde Luján.

Referring to the border issue between the two nations, Blinken told Mexico's security cabinet that police forces and border laws are not enough to solve the security challenges. In this regard, he called for the need for both countries to improve "border and port security, while facilitating legitimate travel and trade." 

The tweet reads, "Together with Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State, and other officials from both countries, we initiated the dialogue between Mexico and the United States to address issues of migration, drug trafficking and economic cooperation for the benefit of our peoples and nations."

On migration, the U.S. Secretary of State acknowledged that the two countries must also expand economic opportunities, particularly in disadvantaged communities, so that people have a real choice.

Blinken also acknowledged the need to join forces in the interest of ensuring the safety and security of the countries' borders. "The fact is that none of us can achieve this alone, we depend on shared approaches and that is what this dialogue is all about," he said. 

The drug problem must also be addressed jointly as a public health crisis, Blinken said. In this regard, he advocated strengthening the strategy to bring criminal networks operating in both countries to justice; and combat arms trafficking. 

"We will talk to see how to redouble our efforts to stop the flow of weapons into Mexico and synthetic drugs from Mexico to the United States, we will look at how to strengthen prevention and treatment efforts to help those with addiction difficulties in both countries, reduce the demand for fentanyl and methamphetamine and other illegal substances," said the U.S. diplomat. 

The tweet reads, "Prior to meeting with Blinken, AMLO accuses that in the U.S. 100,000 young people die every year from fentanyl consumption; "fortunately we do not have excessive addictions, drug consumption, like other countries," said the president."

For his part, the Mexican President referred during his morning press conference to the order given by his U.S. counterpart, Joe Biden, to reinforce the border wall. "The construction of the wall is a step backwards because it does not solve the (immigration) problem," said AMLO.

The head of the White House is being pressured by the Republican Party, the president said, pointing out that such order is "contrary to what President Biden has been saying." He is so far the only president who has not built a wall."

Before receiving the US Secretary of State at the National Palace, the Mexican President urged to intensify actions against drug consumption in both countries although, he said, in Mexico the number of deaths caused by fentanyl "does not even reach 1,000" while in the US they exceed 100,000 a year. 

"We regret what is happening in the United States, who are our brothers, but they have a consumption of fentanyl that causes 100,000 deaths of young people a year. We don't have that, we don't even have a thousand who lose their lives in Mexico from fentanyl overdoses," AMLO said.  

However, he warned about the "fatal, tremendous" consequences if fentanyl consumption grows in Mexico. In this sense, AMLO emphasized the need to reduce the consumption of fentanyl, despite the fact that drug addiction in Mexico is lower than in other countries.