The keys to the new security plan of the United States and Mexico in their fight against drugs

What's new in this plan? The idea is to address the structural causes of violence. Hence, it will not only be important to capture the drug cartel bosses.

Mexico and the United States opened a new stage of their security cooperation on Friday, focused on attacking the causes of drug trafficking and illegal migration, after the failure of a military anti-drug offensive deployed 13 years ago. The document has three objectives and 10 measures. Here are some keys to the program (in case you are in a hurry).

• The new plan called Bicentennial understanding replaces the previous one known as Merida Initiative, a strategy achieved in 2008 and stalled for years.
• Some of the objectives: reduce violence, assassinations, and arms trafficking, which means combating the violence of drug cartels that operate on the border.
• What's new in this plan? “The first difference is that the Mérida Initiative, from Mexico's point of view, was focused on the thesis that the cartel bosses had to be captured and that was enough. Today, what exists is a common strategy that is more complex than that, ”said Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, according to The country from Spain. In other words, the main idea is to address the structural causes of violence.
• For this reason, the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, argued that beyond supporting the security forces, it was key generate economic opportunities in underserved communities and regions, with better health services and more opportunities for young people.
• The fight against consumption: In the 10 concrete actions contemplated by the alliance, both governments insist on strengthening public health, for which they propose to prevent and reduce substance use, in parallel to limiting the damage associated with addiction.
• This new strategy will come into force in 2022, on the 200th anniversary of bilateral relations between the two countries.

Why did the above plan fail?

Within the Merida Initiative, Washington disbursed $ 3.3 billion in military assistance and advisory services. But López Obrador assures that the plan only triggered violence. Since 2006, Mexico, with 126 million inhabitants, has accumulated more than 300,000 murders, mostly attributed to organized crime, and some 90,000 disappeared.

To explain the differences with the Merida Initiative, the Mexican Foreign Minister told reporters that now "success is not going to be measured by the capture of a drug lord, but by the fact that there are fewer homicides in Mexico and less drug use." In fact, the fall of great barons such as Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán caused a fragmentation of the largest cartels into multiple gangs that now depend on a “more diverse criminal portfolio,” says the research center. Insight Crime.

Organized crime no longer only takes advantage of the more than 3,000 km of border to supply drugs to the world's largest consumer, but is also involved in a wide range of crimes, including human trafficking.

López Obrador, in power since 2018, calls for investment in poor communities exposed to crime in Mexico and Central America, also as a way to contain the growing illegal migration to the United States through his country. A total of 652 Central American migrants, including dozens of minors traveling alone, were arrested Thursday night in Tamaulipas, a border state with the United States.

"The only solution is to attack the root causes" of illegal migration, said Blinken, who advocated a safe, orderly and humane flow with a regional perspective.

US President Joe Biden faces a migration crisis that worsened last month with the arrival of thousands of Haitians to the US-Mexico border. Your neighbor has been acting as a kind of wall to stop the wave. More than 7,500 Haitians were expelled in less than three weeks by the US authorities, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported on Friday.

Mexico, meanwhile, has deported some 54,000 migrants this year, according to the NGO Humans Rights Watch (HRW). "The journey is risky and you will not be successful in entering, we are working to make people understand that and making sure they are treated with dignity," warned Blinken.

The secretary reiterated Washington's offer to invest $ 4 billion in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, and in southern Mexico.

With information from Afp *