The Biden administration

has been

dedicate to one

significant

time to its prickly ally and neighbor to the south, Mexico.

H

High-level meetings have taken place

both countries

the past two weeks

with the two

sides

speak

of their determination to work together on difficult issues

included

migration and

the

cross-border smuggling of fentanyl and weapons.

But even as America’s top diplomat, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, praised what he said were the closest countries to working together in decades, Mexico’s president said:

Other

Manuel

Lpez

Obrador, what

excoriatingtrashing

The United States

for his foreign policy. At the end of last month,

as

The Mexican Minister of Foreign Affairs

Alicia

Brcena

meeting with Blinken in Washington

9-29, and further into the evening

by

are

arrival in Mexico City

last week

for more conversations

this week10-4

,

Lpez Obrador condemned those castigated

US

foreign policy

for spending billions of dollars on the war in Ukraine

while he said what he said

dwarves what

is allocated expenditure t

Unpleasant

address

poverty in Latin America, a root cause of

illegal

migration.

to the US Mexican President Lpez Obrador, who appears in court almost every morning during a press conference that can last hours and is broadcast live, has brought this down somewhat

then urged the Biden administration to stop harassing free and independent countries with an economic embargo

e

s and sanctions, a reference to Venezuela and Cuba, whose autocratic governments President Biden refused to invite to the Summit of the Americas last year

in Los Angeles, a large hemispheric meeting

. Mexico, which has friendly ties with Caracas and Havana, criticized that decision

Lpez

Obrador boycotted the

hemispheric meeting summit

.

The rhetorical tactics are part of Lpez

Obradoren

rhetoric is part of a

well worn playbook. Even if the timing seems inappropriate,

The Lpez Obrador can often be fast

to take

S

a nationalistic, anti-American attitude,

especially during, especially when it’s like

election season. Mexico will hold presidential elections next year, and so on

Lpez

Obrador may not submit a request

–

election, he plans to promote his hand-picked successor.

U.S. officials have grown accustomed to it

Lpez

Obrador’s verbal barrage

often held during his almost daily, hour-long news conferences broadcast live on Mexican television and radio

and have taken pains to avoid criticizing him or his public statements. By most accounts, the Mexican president takes a very different and friendlier tone in private

more businesslike and less ideological. In the meantime, continue

American officials

have emphasizedsay

the

irrig

attempt

S

work with

a broader group of their Mexican government

counterparts

at different levels and in different departments

.

One of the features of our collaboration with the

gG

Governing Mexico is an opportunity for all agencies and everyone at all levels to roll up their sleeves and get work done, a senior U.S. government official told reporters.

prior to the conversations

on

the

condition of anonymity.

On Thursday

in Mexico City

,

packing while he had been packing for hours

meetings

two weeks in Mexico City

Blinken and other U.S. officials said they were confident

Lpez

Obrador was a reliable ally in the fight against fentanyl, drug trafficking and

illegalillegal

immigration.

We have a very strong partner, and today we strengthened that partnership even further, Blinken said at a news conference at the ornate National Palace.

in the historic center of Mexico City

.

He said he had no doubt that Mexico was committed to working with the United States.

And it is not just a promise of words, as important as that is

Blinken said.

It is a commitment in action.

Still, when the man is there

the

top sets the tone, it can make getting that work done a little complicated.

Lpez

Obrador refused for months to acknowledge the scale of the fentanyl crisis or Mexico’s role in it. Mexico is primarily a transshipment point, where traders use precursor chemicals from China to deliver the synthetic opiate to the United States, where it

now athe

leading cause of death for thousands of American adults

D

18 to 49, according to US statistics.

can we link here? I JUST GOT IT FROM WHAT BLINKEN SAID. I can look for actual statistics, but I’m not sure how long that would take. /// There is some debate as to whether this statement is correct, so change “the” to “a”. And even in During

Thursday’s news

Press

conference

Like with

a slate of senior U.S. officials are watching

to process

Subsequently, Mexican officials contradicted each other over whether fentanyl is produced in Mexico or merely transshipped

the country

.

(

The Drug Enforcement Administration says it is being produced

in Mexico here

in clandestine laboratories,

although;

some Mexican officials

refute that claim and continue to deny it.)

It is very difficult to consider cooperation when the

[Mexican]

The president sees the U.S. as a risk or potential threat, said Lila Abed, deputy director of the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center, a Washington think tank, which recently gave a closed-door briefing to members of Congress on ties between the US and Mexico.

She was referring to the history of Washington’s intervention in Latin America and especially in Mexico, America, which has always remained close to the surface in Mexican political consciousness.

It will be difficult for the US to build confidence in security cooperation, she added.

a

Sat

product of the left-wing, anti-imperialist movement in Mexico in the 1970s

Lpez

Obrador has fierce nationalist beliefs

in a system that defends

Mexican sovereignty

that is influenced by a memory of that which still remembers the past

invasions

from the past

also from the US. But much of his public rhetoric is aimed at his political base to gain support among major unions, workers and

a lot of

voters.

Within himself there is ambivalence towards the US; “It’s pulling him in both directions,” said Tony Payan, director of the Center on the United States and Mexico at Rice University. He doesn’t like the dependency

.

on the US

But

Lpez

Obrador also knows there is not much he can do about it. The two countries are closely intertwined

,

economic, political and cultural. Mexico is now the

United States

largest trading partner

to the US

which surpassed China last year

,

.

And

Mexico

besides trade,

is

So

strongly depending on

tourism and such

remittances from its nationals working in the US

and about tourism.

And so it is in the interest of both governments to maintain cordial relations and strategic agreements, Payan said. Yet the depth of

Lpez

Obrador’s commitment remains to be seen, he said

added

.

The

Mexican

The president’s strategy is to duck and drag, there are a lot of yes answers without actually doing too much, Payan said.

The relationship is limping along,

” he said.

“It’s not smooth, but it’s not broken. It doesn’t work, but it’s not broken.

But Mexican and U.S. officials insisted on praising the relationship on immigration and the fight against fentanyl. Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Brcena

who attended the press conference with Blinken

on Thursday at the National Palace,

defended

Lpez

Obrador said he had issued “very precise instructions” for “supporting and cooperating on everything related to the production, trade and consumption of fentanyl.”

Blinken also gave an optimistic assessment as he wrapped up the talks, which also included Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro.

N

Mayorkas and Att

orne

j. Gen.

eral

Merrick Garland.

More than ever before in my three decades of foreign policy involvement, the United States and Mexico are working together as partners for a common purpose, Blinken said. But the scale and scope of the challenges we face are also unprecedented. And I think we’ve thought about both of those facts today

:

the unprecedented partnership, but also the unprecedented challenges.

Confronted with

peaks in both, emerging crises in both

fentanyl smuggling and the number of migrants attempting to enter the U.S., Blinken said officials agreed on a series of steps, including better monitoring and tracking of the chemical precursors coming from Asia, more dismantling of clandestine drug labs

etc

sharing resources to treat addiction.

On the immigration front, the most dramatic development was the announcement that the US, Mexico, Colombia and Panama had agreed to deport Venezuelans to their home countries, a reversal after hundreds of thousands of people were removed from that country.

controversial

nation

to have

fled to neighbor

country states

and the US

It was also revealed w W

Hello, the officials were meeting

in Mexico City it was unveiled here

that the Biden administration

decided to

resumed construction on part of the southern U.S.-Mexico border wall, another reversal in practice.

Civil ServantsGarland

said the government was legally required to spend money earmarked for the project during the Trump administration.

But I I

It was sad news for the Mexican government.

“For my part, I tell you that we are of course not in favor of something like that.”

Brcena said

in a rare point of open dispute with the Americans. “We believe in bridges, not walls.”