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Mexican Resources As part of the May 7th, 2008 Roundtable with Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan, the Homeland Security Policy Institute prepared a resource page where you will find some useful links to recent reports, relevant government agencies and other useful information. Reports "Mexico-U.S. Relations: Issues for Congress," Congressional Research Service (23 May 2008) The United States and Mexico have a close and complex bilateral relationship, with extensive economic linkages. Bilateral relations are generally friendly, although the U.S. enactment of border fence legislation in October 2006 caused some tension in the relationship. Drug trafficking issues are prominent in relations since Mexico is the leading transit country for cocaine, a leading supplier "Mexico's Drug Cartels," Congressional Research Service (16 Oct 2007) Mexico, a major drug producing and transit country, is the main foreign supplier of marijuana and a major supplier of methamphetamine to the United States. Although Mexico accounts for only a small share of worldwide heroin production, it supplies a large share of heroin consumed in the United States. An estimated 90% of cocaine entering the United States transits Mexico. Violence in the border region has affected U.S. citizens. More than 60 Americans have been kidnaped in Nuevo Laredo, and in July 2007, Mexican drug cartels reportedly threatened to kill a U.S. journalist covering drug violence in the border region. The United States and Mexico are reportedly negotiating a new counternarcotics initiative. "Mexico-U.S. Relations: Issues for the 109th Congress," Congressional Research Service (2 June 2005) Bush Administration officials have regularly praised Mexico’s counter-narcotics efforts under Fox, especially action against major traffickers and efforts to improve the judicial system, and have characterized the bilateral cooperation in this area as unprecedented. The State Department reported in March 2005, however, that Mexico remained the leading transit country for cocaine and that numerous U.S. extradition requests were denied based on the Mexican prohibition against life sentences and capital punishment. "U.S.-Mexico Economic Relations," Congressional Research Service (11 July 2005) The bilateral economic relationship with Mexico is among the most important for the United States. The most significant feature of the relationship is the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which has been in effect since 1994. In bilateral trade, Mexico is the United States’ second most important trading partner, while the United States is Mexico’s most important trading partner. In U.S. imports, Mexico ranks third among U.S. trading partners, after Canada and China, while in exports Mexico ranks second, after Canada. The United States is the largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Mexico. In 2004, about 13% of total U.S. merchandise exports were destined for Mexico and 10% of U.S. merchandise imports came from Mexico. In the same year U.S. exports to Mexico increased almost 14%, while imports from Mexico increased about 13%. For Mexico, the United States is a much more significant trading partner. Almost 90% of Mexico’s exports go to the United States and about 60% of Mexico’s imports come from the United States. FDI forms another part of the economic relationship between the United States and Mexico. The United States is the largest source of FDI in Mexico, accounting for 65% of total FDI in 2003. "Radical Groups in Mexico Today," Center for Strategic and International Studies (Sep 2003) The gradual and incremental pace of democratic governance—and in some cases the out-and-out gridlock that has characterized Mexico since the onset of its democratic transition—provide radical groups with a new battle cry. Whereas before they almost exclusively called for the defeat of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), once alternation in power materialized in 2000 with Vicente Fox’s presidential election victory, that call became superfluous. Nonetheless, many of these groups continue to be disenchanted and may plead for either improved governance or, in some cases, an entirely different system of government. Many of the structural changes that Mexico needs—such as fiscal and energy sector reforms—are likely to generate hostile reactions, be they in the form of verbal or communiqué type of opposition or a more physical and/or violent type of resistance. These reforms may exert an added strain on the marginalized constituencies of these radical groups (be it those living in poverty and/or indigenous segments of the population) or simply appeal to the “globaphobic” bent of some of these groups. "Latin American Drugs I: Losing the Fight," International Crisis Group (14 March 2008) Learning from errors, trafficking groups in Colombia, Mexico and the U.S. have become far more difficult to detect by changing from vertically integrated organisations to cell-based structures. Many services along the production and trafficking chain are outsourced to specialised subcontractors who have no knowledge of the rest of organisation. Reliable data on how much cocaine enters Mexico from South American sources and Central American transit countries is unavailable. However, it is generally agreed that in 2006 close to 90 per cent of all cocaine that entered the U.S. came through Mexico. Starting in the early 1980s, increasingly large cocaine trafficking from the Andean region through Mexico has been associated with violence. During that decade and the first half of the 1990s, there was sporadic armed feuding between competing Mexican narco-organisations, such as the Tijuana cartel of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, the Gulf cartel of Juan García Ábrego and the Juárez cartel of Amado Carillo Fuentes (“The Lord of the Skies”). However, in comparison to that of the past ten years, violence was still relatively light. "Latin American Drugs II: Improving Policy and Reducing Harm," International Crisis Group (14 March 2008) Interdiction along the transit corridors from the Andes has become an increasing U.S. focus. Growing concern for the permeability of the border with Mexico, across which most of the Andean cocaine is transported to the American market, and signs of destabilisation in Guatemala owing to the activities of trafficking groups and organised crime, prompted President Bush and President Felipe Calderón of Mexico to launch the Mérida Initiative in 2007. The chances of passage without modification in the legislature of either country are not good. It reflects, however, the serious difficulties U.S. interdiction policy faces. According to GAO officials, once shipments reach Mexico, “they are as good as in the U.S.” "Southern Mexico: Counterinsurgency and Electoral Politics," United States Institute of Peace (27 Jan 2008) Current rebellions in southern Mexico represent clear challenges to the power of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which has dominated Mexican politics since 1929 and spring from citizen outrage at the abuse of power by the PRI, particularly at the local level. The current government's strategy has combined conciliatory gestures with military counterinsurgency operations and dialogue in attempts to buy support through generous public works projects, with largely negative results. Both domestic and foreign policy interests of the United States will be adversely affected by a deepening of the conflict. Key concerns include potential increased refugee flows into the United States and continued economic instability in Mexico. Moreover, the U.S. runs the risk, through continued and unmonitored military assistance (ostensibly drug-interdiction related), of becoming entangled with an unpopular regime at the moment of its collapse. "Drug Control: U.S. Assistance Has Helped Mexican Counternarcotics Efforts, but the Flow of Illicit Drugs into the United States Remains High," Government Accountability Office (25 Oct 2007) The estimated amount of cocaine arriving in Mexico for transshipment to the United States averaged about 290 metric tons per year. Reported seizures averaged about 36 metric tons a year. The estimated amount of export quality heroin and marijuana produced in Mexico averaged almost 19 metric tons and 9,400 metric tons per year, respectively. Reported heroin seizures averaged less than 1 metric ton and reported marijuana seizures averaged about 2,900 metric tons a year. Although an estimate of the amount of methamphetamine manufactured in Mexico is not prepared, reported seizures along the U.S. border rose from about 500 kilograms in 2000 to highs of about 2,800 kilograms in 2005 and about 2,700 kilograms in 2006. According to U.S. officials, this more than fivefold increase indicated a dramatic rise in supply. Corruption persists within the Mexican government and challenges Mexico’s efforts to curb drug production and trafficking. Moreover, Mexican drug trafficking organizations operate with relative impunity along the U.S. border and in other parts of Mexico, and have expanded their illicit business to almost every region of the United States. "Mexico-US Dialogue on Migration and Border Issues," Congressional Research Service (2 June 2005) "International Trade: U.S. Agencies Need Greater Focus to Support Mexico’s Successful Transition to Liberalized Agricultural Trade under NAFTA," Government Accountability Office (March 2005)
News and Resource Links New York Times: Mexico US State Department: Mexico The Economist: Mexico BBC Country Profile: Mexico CIA World Factbook: Mexico Library of Congress: Mexico
Mexican Government Secretariat of National Defense National Security Strategy (in Spanish)
For further inquries including invitation information, please email hspi1@gwumc.edu with the subject Ambassadors Roundtable Series Inquiries. |
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