Friday, the incoming Mexican President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, indicated a potential shift in established ties with the United States.
From Reuters:
“When the time comes, we will review initiatives such as Plan Merida,” said Alfonso Durazo, who will head a new public security ministry when the government takes office on Dec. 1.
Plan Merida, typically called the Merida Initiative in the United States, was created in 2007 under President George W. Bush. It provides the agreed parameters of joint operations between the US and Mexico on efforts ranging from border control of weaponry to drug prosecutions, and facilitates deportations between the two nations.
Critics of the plan have termed it the Mexico Initiative, complaining that it provides money to Mexico for things like border security and law enforcement without direct US control of funds.
Obrador harnessed popular resentment of President Trump to give him an electoral edge that handed him the Mexican Presidency. He has stated that he has slightly moderated his former hard-left stance, but there remain concerns among many due to his prior policies’ similarity to those of Hugo Chavez of Venezeula.
His election was expected to make the revised NAFTA effort of President Trump more difficult, and may make the decision to end the deal in favor of a better one a failure as no new version of the economy-building deal reaches final agreement.
Revisions to the security arrangement, however, will likely worsen the crime at the United States border.
Obrador has asked for monetary aid for southern Mexico, which runs directly counter to the Trump administration’s policy of diminishing such aid. (Bloomberg) The security review may be an effort to exert pressure by Obrador.
The contentious relationship between Trump and Mexico looks to get moreso on December 1, when Obrador is inaugurated. How troubling events become in Mexico are yet to be seen, but abandoning efforts to roll back crime will not help anyone except the criminals.
