The joint statement issued yesterday, September 3, by the governments of Mexico and the US after the visit of Secretary of Framework Rubio to President Claudia Sheinbaum emphasizes security cooperation. In paper sounds impeccable: respect for sovereignty, mutual trust and shared responsibility. The creation of a high -level group is announced in charge of monitoring issues such as cartels, border security, clandestine tunnels, illicit financial flows and fuel theft. Even coordinate public health campaigns to prevent opioid consumption.
The text transmits the image of two governments working shoulder shoulder, with respect and coordination. It is pure diplomacy: calibrated language so as not to bother either side. However, what was signed in Mexico and what Rubio said and their boss draw another reality.
Last Tuesday, Rubio referred to the destruction ordered by Trump of a boat in the Caribbean that left Venezuela allegedly loaded with drugs and operated by a “narcoterrorist organization.” He said that the days when a narco was seized a shipment were seized so that he later continued to operate “with impunity.” Now all the power of the US will be used, wherever, against the cartels.
It made it clear that this offensive is regional because drugs range from South America not only to the US, but also to Europe and the Caribbean. Therefore, he said that military operations will continue. Although he did not mention Mexico, his message is unequivocal: for the US the drug traffickers are not common criminals, but terrorists who justify the use of military force.
Donald Trump’s words in the interview he granted last Friday to the rightist site Dailycaller.com were even more explosive. He said to admire Sheinbaum, but reiterated that “Mexico is controlled by the cartels” and that she offered to send troops to Mexico and that she did not accept it “because she is afraid.” His words contradict the statement: while in Mexico there was talk of confidence and sovereignty, in the US it is presented to our country as a state captured by the narco and its president unable to make hard decisions.
Here is the central contradiction. The bilateral statement speaks of cooperation and sovereignty; Rubio and Trump speak of war, with openly belligerent words, and of “cartels” countries. For Mexico, the emphasis is to coordinate institutions and reinforce inspections. For EU, it is about fighting a fight against terrorist organizations that kill Americans with fentanyl and cocaine.
The contrast is not less. If EU considers that a cargo that comes out of Mexico threatens its safety, the narrative of “narcoterrorism” gives you pretext to act militarily. What in the communiqués sounds like cooperation, in practice it can become a license for armed interventions.
In the end, the statement is useful for both governments. Claudia Sheinbaum projects firmness by insisting on respect for sovereignty; Trump and Rubio show advances in the fight against drugs. But the difference in languages should not be overlooked. Mexico moves in the field of diplomacy, United States in war. That gap, sooner or later, could become a serious conflict.
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