Latin America Advisor
Latin America Advisor
A Publication of The Dialogue
How Is the Opioid Crisis Affecting U.S.-Mexico Ties?
Mexico’s foreign minister and the U.S. secretary of state recently discussed bilateral efforts to address opioid trafficking. A bag of fentanyl pills is pictured. // File Photo: U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Four U.S. citizens were kidnapped in Mexico on March 3, two of whom were later found dead after gunmen allegedly belonging to the Gulf Cartel opened fire. The incident led members of the U.S. Congress to call for troops to be sent into Mexico to stem drug cartel violence, which Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador strongly rejected. On March 13, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard spoke with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken to discuss bilateral efforts to address the fentanyl crisis more broadly. How is the rising political tension between the United States and Mexico over the opioid crisis affecting their bilateral relationship? How has cooperation evolved between the two countries, and what policies are needed to effectively address the fentanyl crisis?
-
Arturo Sarukhan, board member of the Inter-American Dialogue and former Mexican ambassador to the United States: “Counternarcotics cooperation and intelligence sharing between Mexico and the United States is in a rut. Since the outset of the López Obrador administration, it has been a chronicle of a crisis foretold. It was hampered out of the gate by a nationalistic and jingoistic approach as López Obrador largely eviscerated cooperation with Washington, only for it to nosedive in response to the arrest of a former Mexican secretary of defense in Los Angeles. And while the Biden administration has been pressing Mexico for months on the flow of precursors and fentanyl into Mexico and then on to the United States, Mexican authorities, starting with the president himself, have largely been performing kabuki. This is in part because interdiction and lab dismantling policies run counter to López Obrador’s ‘hugs, not bullets’ approach to transnational criminal organizations, but also because…”
Read More
Top News
Fernández, Biden Discuss Argentine Economy in Visit at White House
Bolsonaro Returns to Brazil Following Three Months in United States
Complete editions of the Latin America Advisor are delivered every business day to members of the Dialogue's Corporate Program and other subscribers. Sign up below for a complimentary preview subscription.
About the Latin America Advisor
The Inter-American Dialogue publishes the Latin America Advisor every business day for a distinguished membership of informed corporate leaders, scholars, and government officials invested in Latin America’s development and future. The Advisor‘s highly regarded Q&A section covers questions submitted by subscribers themselves. Commentators regularly include heads of state, business leaders, diplomats, economists, analysts, and thought leaders from around the world. Many of the world’s largest and fastest-growing companies subscribe to the Advisor. To subscribe click here or for more information, contact Gene Kuleta, editor of the Advisor, at gkuleta@thedialogue.org.
Subscribers See all
Staff
Gene Kuleta
Editor
P. 202.463.2920
E. gkuleta@thedialogue.org
Lara Kovandova
Reporter
P. 202.463.2936
E. lkovandova@thedialogue.org