Agreements
One of the first coincidences between the two administrations was in terms of migration. First with Vice President Kamala Harris and later with President Biden, Mexico agreed that migration will be addressed from its causes, for which the Youth Building the Future program will be implemented in Honduras and Sowing Opportunities in southern Mexico. That had been an insistence of President López Obrador and to which he had even put a figure: if implemented in Central America, 330,000 migrants would not leave their countries in order to reach the United States .
Before the end of 2021, both administrations agreed to reactivate the controversial Stay in Mexico program. Designed in the government of Donald Trump, this program returns asylum seekers to Mexican territory, while they await the resolution of immigration courts.
The López Obrador government accepted after the United States was receptive to “humanitarian concerns” expressed by Mexico, including providing more resources to shelters, protecting vulnerable groups and applying measures against COVID-19 .
In security, the High-Level Security Dialogue was launched between Mexico and the United States in which they agreed to put an end to the Mérida initiative and implement the Bicentennial Agreement in which both countries would work on security matters with mutual respect for their sovereignties. . Some of the objectives that were set were to establish a network for the prevention of homicides, combat arms trafficking, launch ballistics laboratories and dismantle criminal groups and their financial networks. Also included was working to control the coronavirus pandemic in the region, for which the United States has donated millions to Mexico.
Vicente Sánchez, a researcher at the Department of Public Administration Studies at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte (Colef), believes that up to now Mexico and the United States have succeeded in matters of interest to both nations, so it cannot be said that either has imposed, as it did in the administration of Donald Trump.
“The two countries win because they have maintained a fluid and understanding relationship. Despite the differences, there are formal channels through which the relationship passes and complicated issues are dealt with, agreements are reached. It’s a partner relationship,” he says.
This 2022 is a key year because the bilateral relationship will be 200 years old, but also because the agreements reached in 2021 should begin to yield results.
