Mexico, US strike new security accord

By Jorge Antonio Rocha

MEXICO CITY (AA) - Mexico received a US delegation led by Secretary of state Anthony Blinken and secured a new deal on social and security challenges.

Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said the focal points are to protect the people of both countries, fight border criminal activity and dismantle criminal networks.

"The relationship between our governments is broad and complex … maintaining that relationship and strengthening it requires constant and honest dialogue at all levels. We must take advantage of opportunities and adapt to new challenges, and that is exactly what we did today in the high-level dialogue,” Blinken said at a news conference.

The multidisciplinary effort to tackle challenges will end the current "Merida Initiative," a security agreement launched in 2008 during US President George Bush and Mexico's Felipe Calderon administrations where Washington provided military training and equipment to Mexico's armed forces to fight organized crime.

"Nowadays, there is a common strategy that is more complex,” Ebrard said regarding the Merida Initiative. “It is more complex, it is broader, it does not have a single action. The success of this is not going to be measured because a drug lord is captured. The success will be measured if there are fewer homicides in Mexico and less drug use."

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has been critical of the Merida Initiative and previously announced his desire to end the 13-year-old agreement in favor of a new one.

Ebrard said an annual report will be issued by December stating expected goals to be met by December 2022.

"You only ally yourself with someone you trust and respect. Alliances cannot be made any other way,” he said.