In 15 years, US aid to Mexico for the fight against drug trafficking amounted to 3 thousand 631 million dollars

Dora Villanueva

Newspaper La Jornada
Monday March 13, 2023, p. 6

As part of collaborative programs to investigate drug cartels, strengthen border security, and stop migration, the United States has allocated $3,621.8 million to Plan Mérida and its successor, Marco Bicentenario, from 2008 through the fiscal year. 2022, but those resources have not been tracked based on results, according to an analysis by the US Congressional Research Service.

The amount invested in fifteen years, which some US legislators have seized on to argue their country’s interventions in Mexico and classify drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, is just over nearly 3 billion dollars. represented the US fentanyl market in 2022, according to a Coherent Market Insights analysis of therapeutic opioids (https://bit.ly/3ZIcnn8).

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) estimates that a kilogram of powdered fentanyl from China can cost around $3,500, but once it goes through the entire supply chain and is transformed into in pill can generate millions of dollars in profit. Since 2019, Mexico replaced the Asian country as the main source of this substance in the United States.

Beyond the spending directed towards Mexico, that which the US government makes in general to attack the supply of illicit drugs of all kinds is 11.7 percent of the 150 billion dollars that that market is estimated to be equivalent to in the United States alone. Joined.

in the report United States-Mexico Security Cooperation: From the Mérida Initiative to the Bicentennial Framework, published by the Congressional Research Service, it is reported that the former received a total of 3.5 billion dollars. And in 2022, 64 million in funds for International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement and 57.8 million in Economic Support Funds were allocated to the tasks of the Bicentennial Framework.

It will be 141.6 million dollars in 2023

At the same time, 141.6 million are considered in bilateral assistance for Mexico by the administration of President Joe Biden as part of the budget for fiscal year 2023. Of these, 64 million in funds for International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement and 75 million in Economic Support Funds.

The document states that in its initial phase, from 2008 to 2010, 1.5 billion dollars were allocated for the Mérida Initiative, signed by Felipe Calderón and executed in part by his Secretary of Public Security, Genaro García Luna, who is imprisoned in the United States. States, awaiting the verdict of a trial in which he was found guilty of drug trafficking and organized crime.

This first package included 420.7 million dollars in foreign military financing, through which equipment was purchased, including planes and helicopters, to support Mexico’s federal security forces (military forces) and police. However, by 2011, during the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto, its objectives were expanded to four pillars.

First, combat transnational organized criminal organizations; second, to strengthen the institutions of the criminal justice sector while protecting human rights; third, create a 21st century US-Mexico border while improving immigration enforcement in Mexico; and fourth, build strong and resilient communities through pilot projects aimed at violence prevention and drug demand reduction.

The extensive cooperation of the initiative was highly praised. Critics claimed, however, that the two nations embraced an increasing number of priorities without allocating more funds to them. In addition, a May 2020 Government Accountability Office report identified deficiencies in monitoring the impacts of specific programs.explains the document of Congress.

With the arrival of Donald Trump to the US administration, the control of irregular migration became a central objective of the United Statesand to a lesser extent, but also a priority, the reduction of the production of synthetic drugs, the improvement of border interdiction and port security, and the fight against money laundering.

Since taking office in 2018, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has criticized the Mérida Initiative and reduced federal security cooperation with the United States, with the exception of immigration enforcement., details. While Mexico’s security strategy, published in February 2019, focuses on addressing the socioeconomic factors of crimedetails.

As part of the High Level Dialogue between the two countries, the name of the Mérida Initiative was changed to Marco Bicentenario and its objectives were adjusted to invest in public health solutions for drug use, support for safe communities and reduction of homicides and other high impact crimes; prevent cross-border crime by reducing arms trafficking, targeting illicit supply chains and reducing human trafficking and smuggling, as well as going after criminal networks by disrupting illicit financiers in both countries and importers of precursor chemicals and drug producers synthetics in Mexico, at the same time that security and justice are strengthened.