For the leaders of two friendly nations, President Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon have certainly piled up a long list of touchy issues to address when they meet in Washington this week for a state visit.
From Arizona’s controversial immigration law to disputes over Mexican trucks to the illicit flow of guns, drugs and people across the border, the U.S. and its southern neighbor are at no loss for thorny challenges.
Foremost among those is the drug war, in which more than 23,000 people have died since Mr. Calderon cracked down on the cartels after taking office in 2006. But policy experts question to what extent the U.S. can — and should — help the embattled nation.
“I think that some tough love is in order,” said George W. Grayson, a government professor at the College of William & Mary. “Obviously cooperation at the border is in our self-interest, but it’s time for Mexico’s establishment to take possession of the security problem and they simply haven’t.”
Recent and high-profile flare-ups, led by the killing of an American consulate worker in March, have injected a renewed sense of immediacy on the part of the U.S. That incident in particular prompted a trip to Mexico by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who — echoing the sentiment of Mr. Obama during his visit last year — expressed support for Mr. Calderon’s efforts and said the U.S. deserves blame for providing a market for the drugs and supplying weapons to the cartels.
While the U.S. has continued to provide money and other assistance to help Mexico stem the tide of kidnappings and gruesome homicides, some scholars doubt the nation’s commitment to ending the violence. They point to evidence of persistent corruption among the Mexican police force and detached elite who insulate themselves with bodyguards and costly home security systems.
Mr. Grayson said Mr. Obama and others in the U.S. government fall prey to what he describes as “the poor Mexico theory,” which overestimates how much the nation’s northern neighbor, despite its superpower status, can really do to help solve internal problems.
But some experts say it’s because of the special relationship between the nations, and due to the fact that the U.S. bears some responsibility for the drug trade, that the administration must do all it can to support Mexico.
“It is impractical to suggest that we can ignore the trouble south of the border,” Roger F. Noriega, a former State Department official and visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, wrote in a publication for the conservative think tank this month. “It is immoral to say that Mexico should fend for itself in fighting a fire that is fueled in large part by drug abusers in this country. And it is naive to think that the flames will not jump the fence.”
Indeed, Mr. Obama during his first visit to Mexico as president noted the U.S. role in consuming drugs and smuggling weapons, and he pledged to step up American efforts and instruct members of his administration to work closer with their Mexican counterparts. That included a promise to help push through Congress a long-stalled small-arms treaty, known as CIFTA, that he has yet to fulfill.
But even without CIFTA, the Obama administration is using the authority it already has to try to help Mr. Calderon. The Department of Homeland Security has stepped up inspections of southbound traffic in an effort to stop guns and money heading to cartels in Mexico. The White House has also continued policies laid out in the Merida Initiative, a $1.4 billion commitment to provide technical assistance, equipment and training to Mexican authorities agreed to under former President George W. Bush, and has expanded the effort to include support for civil society and community programs.
Denise Dresser, a professor at the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico, said the visit could lend the prestige that comes with meeting an American president to Mr. Calderon, thus helping him back at home.
“He wants recognition for his boldness, his bravery, his willingness to take on organized crime at a time when the war on drugs is increasingly unpopular in his own country,” she said at a discussion Friday hosted by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. “I think Felipe Calderon is coming here with the hope that once President Obama embraces him and says all the right things … he can carry that back to Mexico and bolster his political legitimacy.”
Both Mr. Obama and Mr. Calderon have said they recognize the special relationship between Mexico and the U.S., which share a 1,950-mile border. The two men have met repeatedly, including before Mr. Obama took office, again in Mexico City in April 2009, in Guadalajara in August, and at several of the international summits both men have attended. First lady Michelle Obama’s first solo international trip was to Mexico.
Mr. Obama recently continued a White House tradition of celebrating Cinco de Mayo by praising his Mexican counterpart and pointing to what he said was their bond.
“It’s the friendship and cooperation that we’ll deepen when we host President Calderon and first lady Margarita Zavala for their state visit and dinner in a couple of weeks,” he said.
On the economic front, Mexico is the nation’s third-largest trading partner and sticking points remain when it comes to obligations under the North American Free Trade Agreement, particularly with respect to Mexican trucks. To the chagrin of Mexican manufacturers, the U.S. government has balked at allowing them on U.S. roads, prompting Mexico to retaliate by imposing more than $2 billion in duties on American goods.
But in a sign Mr. Calderon might be able to return home with some good news, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood last week told Congress the administration is about to unveil a new plan that would reopen the border to the trucks.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.