SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, good afternoon everyone.
Let me start by saying that yesterday 143 countries, including the United States and Mexico, came together to condemn Russia’s mock referendums as a clear violation of international law, and unequivocally any attempt by Moscow to illegally annex the sovereign territory of Ukraine. , rejected.
The UN resolution is not only a condemnation of Moscow, but also a resounding confirmation of global support for everything President Putin is actually trying to destroy. It is a vote that affirms the right of every nation – big and small – to respect its sovereignty, its independence and its territorial integrity. A vote that confirms our shared commitment to uphold the United Nations Charter and international humanitarian law. A vote affirming the human rights of all people, including Ukrainian citizens, who continue to be victims of barbaric atrocities perpetrated by Russian forces. With this vote, the world has never been more united in rejecting the Russian war, and President Putin has never been more isolated.
We just completed our second high-level security dialogue between Mexico and the United States, taking stock of significant progress towards three key goals we set out to achieve together a year ago under the Bicentennial Framework for Security, Public Health and Safe communities: protecting our people, preventing cross-border crime, chasing criminal networks.
We have made significant progress, reflected in unprecedented investment, legislation and law enforcement action. And these efforts have already made a tangible difference in the lives of Mexicans and Americans.
Today’s discussion focused on the areas where we need to make further progress, such as doubling our efforts to fight the threats posed by fentanyl production and trade, arms trafficking and the exploitation of migrants.
This is part of a broader, deeper partnership between our two nations, with today’s dialogue a month after our second high-level economic dialogue in Mexico City.
Both dialogues reflect the shared priorities of President López Obrador and President Biden. And both aim to deliver issues that have a tangible impact on the lives of our people, such as strengthening our competitiveness in the 21st century economy, making our communities safe for all their inhabitants, dismantling transnational criminal organizations.
The issues at the heart of our economic and security dialogues are closely intertwined. Strengthening security, fighting corruption, accountability for crimes and human rights violations – this not only makes our citizens safer, our citizens safer, but they also create a better environment for starting a small business or attracting private investment. And promoting inclusive economic opportunities is also one of the most effective ways to tackle a root cause of organized crime, by providing people with avenues they would not otherwise have.
While these high-level dialogues take place a handful of times a year, dialogues take place every day at multiple levels of our governments between US and Mexican diplomats and development workers, prosecutors and law enforcement officials, public health experts and migration officials. This is where our commitments are actually translated into actions that improve the lives of our people.
All these efforts are based on one fundamental proposition: we cannot solve any of these challenges alone. And increasingly we need to build our bilateral cooperation to work with others.
We are increasingly partners in adopting a regional approach to shared challenges. Just last week in Lima we held a meeting of the 21 signatories to the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection. We discussed concrete progress made since the Summit of the Americas in delivering on our shared commitment to create the conditions for safe, orderly, humane and regular migration in our hemisphere, and mapped out further implementation efforts.
Our nations are also working shoulder-to-shoulder with the United Nations to move forward with a critical resolution that will impose sanctions on those responsible for supporting gang violence, corruption and human rights abuses in Haiti as the country faces a dangerous resurgence of cholera and widespread insecurity.
And so on bilateral, regional and global cooperation, I think we have one of the strongest – if not the strongest – partnerships we’ve seen, certainly in my experience. And I just have to say that we are so grateful to our colleagues from Mexico, both for the substance and the spirit of our conversations today and, indeed, every day.
And with that, Marcelo, the floor is yours.
FOREIGN SECRETARY EBRARD: Thank you very much, Antony. I’m switching to Spanish.
(via interpreter) Thank you very much for your warm welcome and for meeting us today. President López Obrador proposed a security strategy that begins by addressing underlying issues. There are 2.2 million young people working and building the future – Sembrando Vidas – half a million. So we help a lot of families and people.
The idea is to make sure there is no impunity. A National Search Committee was set up, as well as a National Guard, because the President wanted to secure our territory because there were hundreds of police officers on duty.
And there is a fourth point, which is the agreement with the US on security. So this piece works. The Bicentennial Framework has delivered results. This is important. We signed this a year ago. I think we are the only two countries that have a framework with a plan of action and periodic reviews in every area to protect our societies.
I’ll give you an idea of what we’re talking about. This morning I said that thanks to the work between the US and Mexico, 32 million weapons have ultimately not caused fatal injuries in our countries. These were secured before continuing to kill people. Seventeen million ammunition, tons of chemicals, methamphetamines, 94 tons of cocaine, much of that cocaine has been seized on the high seas with common communications systems with the United States, 129 ships, labs across the country.
So from our point of view, it’s clear that the Bicentennial Framework works. There is still a way to go. This does not mean that everything is solved. But the key indicator is that for the first time in recent years, we’ve seen a decline in the homicide rate in Mexico. But not only murders, but also kidnappings, robberies and car theft.
However, when it comes to the homicide rate in Mexico, the most troubling in Mexico, there is a 9.2 percent reduction. Part of this is due to the framework we share with the United States. That’s what it means to work together. Let me explain why.
This is a map that I showed to Minister Blinken a while ago. These are all the municipalities in Mexico where there are weapons made by US companies – mainly, but not only in the US – and the US is helping us control them. So you can see this map. This is the weapons pandemic we have in Mexico. These are the US cities where these weapons are sold. These are shown in red.
So why do we value the support so much? We want to thank you for that today, and we want to thank you for that next year. If we reduce this, the violence in Mexico will continue to decrease: 9.2 is a lot of lives, and if we get to 10 or 15 percent, it will create a very different, peaceful environment in Mexico.
So thank you very much, Antony, for your personal commitment to the Bicentennial Framework. Mr Attorney General, thank you too, Secretary Mayorkas.
ADVOCATE GENERAL GARLAND: Good afternoon. Last year Secretary Blinken, Secretary Mayorkas and I traveled to Mexico City to meet our partners and colleagues from the Mexican government. Together, our two countries launched the U.S.-Mexico Bicentennial Framework. Today we had the opportunity to reflect on the work we have done over the past year and to share our commitment to address the shared security challenges facing both our countries.
The first topic we covered in our dialogues today was also the first goal we outlined in our framework last year: to protect our people. That goal is the foundation of our partnership and the common thread running through all our work.
As part of that effort, the Department of Justice is working to address the substance abuse crisis within our own borders, with a particular focus on fentanyl. We provide resources to help communities with prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery services.
Our second goal – the prevention of cross-border crime – is an essential part of the national security of our two countries. Our agents and prosecutors are working to dismantle the dangerous cartels that bring deadly fentanyl into our communities in both countries. And we’re working to disrupt both the supply and demand of fentanyl. Last month, the DEA concluded a four-month operation that resulted in the removal of 36 million lethal doses of fentanyl from American communities.
To strengthen our efforts to combat human smuggling and trafficking groups, the department launched Joint Task Force Alpha last year. And to tackle the criminal firearms pipelines that flood communities in both our countries with illegal weapons, the department has deployed cross-border strike forces across the United States to disrupt these networks from start to finish.
We have instructed our prosecutors and law enforcement officials to prioritize prosecutions of those responsible for the greatest violence, including criminal arms dealers. And we’ve been working to improve cooperation and the bilateral sharing of information on illegal firearms investigations.
Finally, our third goal: the pursuit of criminal networks, especially drug cartels, is an area of intense focus and means of prosecution for the Department of Justice. A crucial aspect of our work is our joint efforts to shut down illicit financial networks, which we know are the lifeblood of these criminal organizations.
We will continue to work closely with our partners in Mexico to also investigate, arrest, extradite and prosecute individual members of dangerous transnational criminal organizations.
On behalf of the Department of Justice, our prosecutors and each of our law enforcement units, I would like to thank the government of Mexico for their continued cooperation on all these fronts, and I look forward to our cooperation in the years to come.
SECURITY SECRETARY RODRÍGUEZ: (via interpreter) Thank you very much. Good evening everyone. The high-level security dialogue held today, the diplomatic missions of the US and Mexico, officials of both countries represent the commitment and conviction that both countries intend to meet the cross-border security challenge together for the benefit of our citizens. Working together at an international level, based on mutual respect, produces results. We are closing ranks in the fight against drug trafficking, which has caused so much violence in our country and created a health problem for the United States. During this meeting we discussed the progress made and tasks that we will take home. The pillars of this cooperation are aimed at fighting criminal networks that disrupt the peace in both countries and at ensuring a peaceful and sustainable life for our communities.
Mexico and the United States face the challenge of strengthening our joint work to avoid the use of synthetic drugs and increasing efforts to ban the activities of fentanyl trafficking by transnational organized crime. We can say that the Bicentennial Framework is delivering results for the region, which is why we are committed to continuing to work together to provide more and better results and peaceful outcomes.
It is with this in mind that the Mexican cabinet, led by President López Obrador, has two main channels. First, to intervene in the channels of drug smuggling groups that use intelligence to dismantle structures and arrest key actors responsible for violence; and combating drug trafficking, arms trafficking and human smuggling.
In Mexico, the results are astonishing. For example, when it comes to the Mexican fight for zero impunity, we have reached the highest number of arrests in history. We went from 65,149 members of criminal organizations – 5,900 of which were members of organized crime networks. Many of them caused violence, and this was done under the zero impunity, zero corruption program.
Our other task is to address the causes that lead to violence – poverty, disenfranchisement – by creating programs for public health, education and poverty reduction. And there will be a campaign in the media in both countries to prevent addiction. Because these actions are necessary to work on the prevention side of this issue.
Finally, I would like to say that, as you can see, our national security strategy is extremely important. We must continue to strengthen our efforts. Because as the first woman to serve as Secretary of Security in my country, I am proud to be a part of this cabinet, and I am proud to be part of the work of the Bicentennial Framework. We say that Mexico is not condemned to war. Mexico is destined for peace.
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Thank you very much, Secretary, and good afternoon. The government of Mexico is one of our strongest and most valued partners. I am very honored to be here to celebrate the 200 years of friendship between our countries. The Department of Homeland Security is proud to play a role in the implementation of the historic Bicentennial Framework for Security, Public Health, and Safe Communities and is honored to co-chair the US-Mexico High-Level Security Dialogue.
We share so much with Mexico; our history, our cultures, our heritage are inextricably linked. Our economies depend on an efficient flow of trade and travel across our common border, and DHS, our Department of Homeland Security, is committed to ensuring that our security efforts facilitate legal trade. We also have shared challenges. Our two nations face an increasingly complex and dynamic environmental threat, including arms trafficking, migrant smuggling and fentanyl trafficking; and we are determined to face these threats with our neighbor, our partner and our friend – Mexico.
Today, during the high-level security dialogue, our two countries discussed ways in which we can improve our joint efforts. DHS is committed to doing its bit in various ways, about which I would like to say a few words now.
The flow of illegal firearms from the United States to Mexico fuels the cartels that smuggle drugs and migrants into the United States. Reducing that flow not only helps stem the violence in Mexico, it also increases our internal security. Homeland Security Investigations, HSI – Firearms investigations are up 500 percent since DHS launched Operation Without a Trace to identify, address and investigate gun smuggling. From October 2021 to August 2022, CBP, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 215 pistols, 159 long guns and approximately 380,000 rounds of ammunition seized in 210 separate seizures south on our common border. This summer, our Treasury Department issued sanctions against an arms dealer associated with the Jalisco cartel. This designation was a direct result of the strong relationship between the government of Mexico and U.S. agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security.
We are increasing our ability to detect contraband through increased screening, using non-intrusive inspection technology. Technological innovation and its use is the most important and essential tool for our efforts. We have also increased our interdiction capacity through extensive cooperation between our customs and law enforcement authorities along the southern border. Together we increased screening north and south for contraband, including weapons, controlled substances, ammunition and cash.
With our Mexican counterparts, we increased mirror patrols at our shared border, developed a unified border task force, and improved our information sharing, including locating and addressing cross-border tunnels. To protect the most vulnerable among us, we have implemented detection and referral measures to identify and assist potential victims of human trafficking. In support of our Smart Border Initiative, we are assessing gateways from both sides of the border to support the development of a model port with integrated technology and collaborative processes.
The aim of this project is to make trade and travel more efficient and to improve security. I want to acknowledge the courageous efforts of our Ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, in all the endeavors I describe. Yesterday we announced additional steps we are taking to reduce the number of people arriving illegally at our southwest border and create a more orderly, safe and humane process for people fleeing Venezuela’s humanitarian and economic crisis.
Those who illegally attempt to cross the southern border of the United States will be turned back. Those who follow the legal process we announced yesterday will have the opportunity to travel safely to the United States and be eligible to work here. We also announced that we will make nearly 65,000 H-2B temporary visas available to non-farm workers for fiscal year 2023, in addition to the 66,000 H-2B visas normally available each fiscal year. This furthers the Biden administration’s pledge under the Los Angeles Declaration for Migration and Protection to expand legal pathways as an alternative to illegal and dangerous migration.
I am grateful for the close cooperation we enjoy. DHS is committed to the U.S. and Mexico’s joint commitment to security, as reflected in the Bicentennial Framework. This effort will make us stronger and safer together. Thank you.
MR PRICE: We now turn to questions. We’ll start with Tracy Wilkinson of the L.A. Times.
QUESTION: Thank you. Thanks and bienvenidos. Minister Ebrard, for you, please. President López Obrador is very anti-US. statements lately, a lot of anti-US rhetoric. He has been criticized – he says arming Ukraine is a terrible mistake. Mexico signs a satellite installation agreement with Putin that some say has espionage capabilities. Given these and other issues, are you damaging US-Mexico bilateral relations, and making it difficult for you to negotiate with the US on other issues such as immigration and drugs and the like?
And related to that, I wanted to ask you now about the militarization in Mexico. In a country where the military has traditionally been involved in massacres and gross violations of human rights, and where, despite the 9.2 percent decrease in killings that you believe has taken place, thousands of Mexican civilians are still being murdered and with impunity, including more than a dozen journalists this year alone – what is the reason and the reason for having the army more and more on the street, extending their permanence on the street, something López Obrador campaigned against, and now also expanding their economic power, unprecedented in Mexico?
And to Secretary Blinken, after listing all these things I just listed, does this give you pause or question Mexico’s commitment to democracy?
And if I may on a completely different subject – my apologies – Saudi Arabia issued a statement on the OPEC deal early last night or early this morning accusing the government of politicizing oil, saying they will not submit to dictates. – their word – of supposedly friendly nations. And also, why did the government ask for a month’s delay from the announcement, as the Saudis claim? Thank you.
SECRETARY BLINKS: Before turning to Marcelo, Tracy, in answer to your first question to me, the answer is no.
FOREIGN SECRETARY EBRARD: (via interpreter) Thank you for your questions. Let me summarize. What President López Obrador says that the involvement of the armed forces must be in accordance with our laws. They participated intermittently without legal authorization to do so, and they were involved in a way that was not very transparent. Now we have created a National Guard and the command has been given to the Minister of Defense because no one wants ambiguity. The head of the federal police is on trial in New York. So that’s what we don’t want in the future. That’s the reason, that’s the essence of it.
Now Mexico has a system that guarantees rights in our legal system, more than many countries in the world. The fact that you have a National Guard does not mean that human rights are being violated. We have a legal system that makes that impossible. And just to convince you, I’d like to say this: Look at the number of complaints to the National Guard office, and it’s much lower than any law enforcement agency in the country right now. That means that we meet very high human rights standards.
Now, based on what you say about journalists, we hear about investigations every week. There are people who get arrested, masterminds and the like. There is no impunity. Every case is investigated. As far as the 12 journalists are concerned, missing persons are being investigated. They were never examined before. The US helps us grow our platform and forensic capabilities. I can give you a – our secretary can tell you our whole story, Ms. Quintana, because she led these efforts, things that haven’t been done in Mexico in a century. Why is this a problem? Because we are open about everything. We find how many places, how many people have been found, how many people have not been found. So everything that was previously obscure is now subject to public scrutiny. So that keeps it from repeating. It can’t be that in the missing person box you have a lot of different murders, murders that are not investigated and therefore not part of the statistics. So we lower the murder rate when we find people who have been murdered in the past, and we shed light on this.
So there’s no – point two, when it comes down to it – that’s security. Now, when it comes to Ukraine, all of Mexico’s views – and yesterday we passed a resolution together with the United States, rejecting the annexation of Ukrainian territory to the Russian Federation. We are against that. We explained that to the Security Council. It’s – those have always been our president’s instructions. Our foreign policy is determined by him; we carry it out. So we have a very clear position.
The issue of satellites – that’s September 2021 which was then published. It has not yet entered into force. So what happened? When we signed that agreement, the US and Russia had a space cooperation agreement. We did the same with Ukraine, with the EU, but then war broke out. So today the situation has completely changed compared to when it was signed. But we’ve made all of this public. There are no installations of that type in Mexico. So the position vis-à-vis Ukraine and Mexico is very clear. We made sure to go to the General Assembly humanitarian corridors, which Russia had vetoed. We’re putting this together – bringing this up with friends, and that’s our stance. Hopefully we want a peaceful solution, but we cannot and will not accept an invasion or annexation of Ukrainian territory.
SECRETARY BLINK: Tracy, regarding OPEC a few things. First, to review the history here, the Saudis had communicated to us both privately and publicly their intention to cut oil production, which they knew would increase Russian revenues and potentially weaken the effectiveness of sanctions. We made it clear that on that basis alone that would be the wrong direction – the impact it could potentially have on sanctions – but also because we are in a global economic recovery. The recovery is fragile. We are dealing with headwinds from COVID. We also face headwinds from Russian aggression itself. So now is not the time to take energy from the market.
For many, many months, President Biden has been making it clear that our goal when it comes to energy is to ensure that there is sufficient supply in global markets to meet demand. And especially now that we are entering winter in various places in the world, that is even more important. And so that was the lens through which we saw the OPEC decision.
They also presented no market basis for the cuts. We said that to them and we suggested that if they were concerned that prices would drop significantly, if their goal was to keep prices at a certain level, then they should wait and see how the markets reacted there over the next few weeks and in any case, wait until their next monthly meeting. So we strongly urged them to do that for the reasons I just said. They didn’t. And as you know, not only are we deeply disappointed with that, we also think it’s short-sighted. And as the president has made very clear, that decision has to have consequences, and that’s something we’re reviewing right now.
The president has also made it clear that, given the strong bipartisan response to the OPEC+ decision, he wants to consult with Congressional leaders when they come back from the campaign trail to look at the most effective steps we can take to move forward. , bearing in mind that we have a multitude of interests with Saudi Arabia and our policies should reflect that.
From before he was president, the president has made it clear that we need to recalibrate the relationship with Saudi Arabia. We have been working on this for almost two years. We took a number of steps last year, including the focus on human rights, efforts to end the war in Yemen, arms sales policies. And that process is now continuing with one goal in mind: to ensure that the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia better represents and promotes our interests.
MR PRIZE: Ariel Moutsatsos from Televisa.
(via interpreter) I am asking my question in Spanish because we are going live. There is violence in both countries that comes from weapons. And to be quite honest, you, all of you here, continue to provide data, but in both Mexico and the United States, guns continue to kill people – in Mexico because cartels get these guns because of permissiveness in the United States when it comes to these guns to buy, and in the US specifically because of that permissiveness.
So beyond the policies and political uses that governments on both sides have made of this issue, my question is: do you believe, not as politicians but as civil servants, that it is feasible to solve the weapons problem? And if you can tell us very concretely what actions need to be taken, what actions are needed to solve the weapons problem. My question is to Secretary of State Ebrard and Secretary Blinken, but if Secretary Mayorkas or the Attorney General would like to answer, you may do so too. Thank you very much.
FOREIGN SECRETARY EBRARD: (via interpreter) Yes. Thank you for your question. We believe that problem is like any other problem; it’s a security issue. These are very complex, but I think there is a solution. If we didn’t think that, we shouldn’t be civil servants. If you think you’re not going to fix something, please step up. It would be intellectually dishonest, so of course there is a solution. Of course it is complicated.
We have worked very closely with the Department of Secretary Mayorkas and the Department of Justice, with the support of Secretary Blinken, to achieve the following: this map, which shows where we find the weapons that I showed you earlier, this map shows where more weapons are found safely in Mexico. So you see in dark blue – dark blue shows where there are more weapons. At the border we then have a larger number of weapons because we can monitor who comes in with weapons. This is a map that we made with the United States as to who sells them. These are 10 counties in the United States that sell the most guns. We couldn’t do this without the help of the United States. This is a general plan.
What actions will be taken? Secretary of State Mayorkas has asked us to set up a working group for additional measures that we are requesting. We have already achieved significant successes, but we want to achieve even more. And to that end, 20 different measures are proposed that are short-term regulatory issues — repossessions for anyone who wants to bring guns into Mexico, just like we did in Mexico. So there it is.
These actions – I truly believe that these actions will enable us to achieve even more positive results next year than we have achieved this first year. That’s the end of my first comment.
But total number of weapons in Mexico: more than 55,000 from January 2020 to September 2022 – 55,900 weapons. Of these weapons seized thanks to the Bicentennial Framework, they have not fallen into the hands of criminals. We think it was a number of about 37,000, we were able to interrupt these, otherwise we could have grabbed them after a crime was committed. So we’ve done better, and that’s what we’re proposing, and that’s what’s achievable.
So not only am I hopeful, but I’m convinced that this is vital for Mexico because it’s related to the decline in homicide rates, that’s for sure; we are more effective. There are fewer murders. So there is a solution and we are going to solve it.
SECRETARY BLINKS: Partly because I didn’t quite hear the question, but also because what I heard sounded like it was better addressed to my colleagues, I’m going to turn to them. (Laughter.)
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: I would like to answer the question. I want to make it very clear that what we are not talking about is a matter of arms policy in both countries. What we are talking about is something about which there is unanimity, which is that it is illegal to trade firearms across an international border against the law, and to arm traffickers and smugglers so that they can exploit vulnerable people and innocent people in another country. So there is unanimity in that.
We have taken a number of measures, both independently and in collaboration, to tackle the cross-border trade in firearms. I’ve mentioned some examples, some data that reflect the success we’ve had.
The seriousness, the seriousness of the problem, is quite large. And this is exactly why we are coming together in a US-Mexico High-Level Security Dialogue: to review the strategies we have used, to understand their successes, and to see what the gap is between what – where we are and where we need to be. And as Secretary Ebrard noted, we have agreed to create a task force to develop new strategies to look at our prohibition protocols, to look at the investigation and prosecution of cases, and to assess and determine what we can do more to address this problem.
So that’s exactly why we have this kind of dialogue. We remain committed to meeting the challenge, and we will be relentless in our attack on it.
MR PRIZE: Eduard Ribas of EFE.
QUESTION: Thank you, thank you. For Secretary Mayorkas, regarding the Venezuelan migrant regime, and why did you set the limit at 24,000 visas, while in September 33,000 migrants from Venezuela crossed the border?
(via interpreter) What would Mexico propose for Marcelo Ebrard to receive Venezuelans sent back by the US?
Is the Biden administration considering Haiti’s request for troops, and how serious is this deliberation? Thank you.
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: So if I may…
SECRETARY MAYORKAS: — first jump in and step back, because we need to understand the phenomenon of illegal migration, which is not specific to the US-Mexico border, but is a challenge for the entire hemisphere and, as Minister Blinken said in our dialogue this morning, is a phenomenon all over the world. The number of displaced persons is unprecedented.
We have seen, of course, that Venezuela – a population of about 28 million people – Venezuela has seen the exodus of almost 8 million people, just under a third of the total population. Colombia has 2.4 million Venezuelans living within its borders. Migration, irregular migration, is a phenomenon in our hemisphere. In Costa Rica, more than 2 percent of the population is now Nicaraguan. So this is a phenomenon that really grips the region and why our multilateral efforts are so crucial.
Our program is based on a core principle of the Biden administration, which is that when individuals are so desperate to leave the country they live in, they put their savings and their lives in the hands of smugglers who exploit them for profit, it is our responsibility to build safe, legal and humane pathways that create opportunities for them so that they do not have to resort to the more desperate and dangerous measures that the perilous journey entails.
And so the basis of what we announced yesterday is to reduce – to reduce the amount of irregular migration so that people can use the legal path. And the number we announced yesterday is based on that fundamental foundation: that people will make that perilous journey not only to fail, to fail to reach their ultimate destination, but rather the humane, safe and orderly path. to a better life.
FOREIGN SECRETARY EBRARD: (via interpreter) As for the number of Venezuelans, let me tell you this: in Mexico we have seen an increasing flow over the past four or five months. It was important because today there are more Venezuelans than Central Americans. But a lot of – there are a lot of them in Mexico. They have — they’ve asked to stay there, they’re in Mexico, they’ve asked for work visas. So it’s not that we won’t receive – Venezuelans are coming through our country. Many stay there. They’re not coming back from the United States.
But what I think is more important than that is that you can start a process without having to go all the way there, which means that people who take that journey have problems, but Secretary Mayorkas explained that there is a set path. With a regular process there would therefore be an important reason not to run all those risks, but to start the process electronically. And I think that’s very important. But there are many Venezuelans in Mexico. They are in Guatemala, in Panama, Colombia of course.
SECRETARY BLINKEN: May I ask you to please repeat the question to me? I want to make sure I heard it right?
FOREIGN SECRETARY EBRARD: In English? Can you speak in English?
SECRETARY BLINK: It was in English. I just didn’t hear it right.
QUESTION: If you consider Haiti’s request for troops, to send troops to Haiti and – yes.
SECRETARY BLINK: Thank you. So in Haiti we have an incredibly challenging situation for the Haitian people with a multitude of problems: most recently, of course, the outbreak of cholera, but more generally a major problem in terms of insecurity, where large parts of the capital, other parts of Haiti is actually controlled by gangs, not the state. And if you don’t tackle that problem of uncertainty effectively, it’s very difficult to deal with the other challenges; for example ports are blocked, roads are blocked. So some of the things needed to deal with the cholera outbreak just can’t get where they need to go. That’s just one example.
We’ve been working together and with other countries for a while to do a number of things. One is increasing the capacity of the Haitian National Police; the other is to support political dialogue with the prime minister, with the Montana group, with other stakeholders, to try and get Haiti to elections. But one of the challenges in effectively dealing with insecurity is the nexus between the gangs and some elites in Haiti and outside Haiti who support and lead them for their own purposes, not for the good of the country or its people. So we’ve been working together at the United Nations, also this week, to impose sanctions on those who actually take actions that support violence and support gangs.
At the same time, we need to look at what – what steps are needed to effectively support the Haitian National Police and whether there are other things the international community can do to help Haiti effectively provide security for itself. That’s exactly what we’re looking at right now. We talk about it in the different countries in our hemisphere and beyond, and of course we talk about it with the Haitians.
MR PRICE: The last question is from Jesus Esquivel of Proceso.
QUESTION: Thank you. My question is for Minister Blinken, and I hope that you do not pass the ball to Minister Ebrard, that you answer immediately. Yesterday, Secretary of State Zúñiga announced in a teleconference that dozens of criminal organizations have been dismantled among the works on the bicentenary. And – but I ask him where are these criminal organizations that have been dismantled, whether there are American organizations or Mexican cartels, because every time you mention cartels, everyone thinks about Mexico. And probably Attorney General Garland knows exactly what I’m talking about: The DEA and the FBI have a new strategy called the US cartels, and I wonder if these organizations are US cartels – talking about gangs or motorcycle clubs directly involved in the distribution, sale and transportation of fentanyl and all methamphetamines.
And my question also has to do with the poor, because every time you mention the drug problem in the US, you’re looking south. And I’ve been working here since ’88, and it was the Reagan administration — the last I saw they have an effective campaign against drug use in the US. Fentanyl causes the death of 270 people every 24 hours. It is an accumulation of lack of work and a health and education problem in the US. It’s not always Mexico. And the numbers of seized weapons show that the US is doing nothing on the southern border to stop the weapons. On the contrary, Mexico must be frustrated with the federal courts in the US. because you don’t work like you just told us.
So I hope, even if you don’t agree, to be honest and tell us exactly which cartels you are talking about or what Zúñiga was talking about, as well as what else you are going to do besides words to to stop Mexico.
And the last question is for Secretary Rosa Icela in Spanish.
(Via interpreter) (Inaudible) reduced, but the insecurity in Mexico is enormous. In the state of Mexico – and you know it – there are some municipalities that are run by criminals. They set the price of the chicken, of the meat, of everything, and they don’t want to go to the state of Mexico because the elections are coming up. So my question is, do you think with the numbers we’ve had in the mañanera, people – and these people – will be silent when the reality is different, when no one is arrested, no one is investigated? Thank you.
SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you very much. I’m not going to pass the money on to my friend Marcelo. However, I can pass it on to my colleagues, who may be better placed. But let me say a few things based on your question.
We have and we have spoken extensively today about the efforts we are taking together to tackle the transnational criminal organizations that are scourging our two countries. Because, as you have heard from our colleagues, our main responsibility is to protect our citizens – both Mexicans and Americans. And as my colleagues can discuss in more detail, we have deepened our law enforcement cooperation; we deepened our information exchange; and we work together more effectively, both to address drug prohibition and to effectively tackle the arms trade.
As you know, for the first time this year, we have criminalized the illegal arms trade. That is a very important tool. The number of seizures is significantly higher than a year ago. So I guess it’s — I wouldn’t agree with the statement that there are no results. There have been. There are. But they are also not sufficient. And that’s exactly what we recognized and talked about today. How do we intensify these efforts?
Every weapon seized is potentially a life saved. Any drug lab disrupted is potentially a life saved. And as you’ve heard from all of us today – and we have the detailed information to back it up – many lives have been saved through our efforts. But we both believe that we need to do more because the scale of the problem is huge.
Before I turn to my colleagues, let me say a few words about fentanyl, we have about 110,000 drug overdose deaths in the United States each year. Of that, about 70 to 75 percent is bound to synthetic opioids, most notably fentanyl. This means that more people are killed than gun violence and road deaths combined, so we are determined to take effective action against this.
Mexico is also directly experiencing the ravages of fentanyl and synthetic opioids. There are also deaths. We have an extensive effort together that focuses on every aspect of the problem, starting with education. You have also heard Minister Rodríguez speak about this. It is vital that we inform all of our people – especially our young people for whom this is particularly dangerous – about the threat of fentanyl and synthetic opioids. We are doing that and I think the Attorney General can speak to the campaign we are undertaking. Mexico is doing something similar.
We are also working very hard to ensure that the precursors used to make fentanyl and other synthetic opioids – which are legal but then diverted for illegal purposes – that the international community does a much better job of detecting them. and making sure that when you send a chemical somewhere, you know who you’re sending it to and they don’t get diverted. We work a lot on that. Mexico has put in place some important procedures to ensure that happens. We’ve done the same. The two of us will work on this together with other countries, and also with the private sector, which is crucial.
And we’re working together more and more effectively to actually break up labs, ban illegal diversions of chemicals, and, as we said, pursue the transnational criminal organizations. But more needs to be done. More will be done. We are strongly committed to this together, because we see the effect it has on our citizens in both countries.
But let me ask my colleagues to go into more detail.
ADVOCATE GENERAL GARLAND: To add to what the Secretary of State said, to begin with, on the drug issue, we are focused on following this from start to finish. So organizations that ship precursor chemicals, organizations that convert the precursor chemicals into fentanyl, organizations that compress the fentanyl powder into pills, organizations that ship them across borders, and then, yes, organizations in the United States that distribute widely around the world. country and then on a regional basis and then within cities. We must attack every node, and we are doing this.
The DEA has a massive program and partnership with the Department of Homeland Security and our US law firms to touch organizations at every level. And our partnership with Mexico is essential to our ability to deal with the transnational criminal organizations.
As the Secretary of State said, we must also have an awareness campaign. And the DEA and its “One Pill Can Kill” campaign have taken more than 30 million pills off the street in just a few months. These are lethal dosing pills so we know – how serious this issue is. The DEA is involved at the community level, in a community level awareness campaign, at the parent level to raise parent awareness, and we are now considering a joint public awareness campaign.
As for the firearms, I think Minister Mayorkas has said it very well by saying that when we – when illegal arms dealers sell across the border to the cartels and drug organizations, those drug organizations then use that to protect their shipments back to the United States and harm the United States. So the injury is on both sides of the border.
That’s why we work so hard together, and we work so hard together thanks to funding from INL and work from the ATF. We have been working steadily with Mexico to build its e-trace capability. I hope that that way they could have come up with those maps, which map illegal weapons in Mexico and where they were originally sold in the United States. That will help us to ban and prosecute illegal trade in firearms. As the Secretary of State said this summer, the bipartisan statute that was passed gave us the power to prosecute illicit drug trafficking, increased penalties for it and for straw purchases, enabled us to use wiretaps and other methods that we didn’t have it available earlier. And so we’re working on that.
Just last month, we had our first prosecution under this statute, an American in Texas who had recently pleaded guilty to the illegal purchase of more than 200 weapons, most of which were shipped to Mexico. So we’re working on this and we’re working on this together as a partnership with Mexico.
QUESTION: What about the cartels announced with Minister Zúñiga?
ADVOCATE GENERAL GARLAND: I’m sorry, I don’t know what the — I know what the word cartel means. I don’t know what the reference was they were talking about –
QUESTION: At a press conference, Secretary of State Zúñiga announced that a dozen cartels had been dismantled last year. I’m just wondering – he’s talking about US cartels? Because the Mexican cartels, like me – as far as I know, are still operating.
ADVOCATE GENERAL GARLAND: I’m sorry, that’s —
QUESTION: What is he talking about? You probably know.
ADVOCATE GENERAL GARLAND: I think this is a question you should put to him because I’m not sure I understand the reference. My apologies.
SECURITY SECRETARY RODRÍGUEZ: (via interpreter) Thank you. In Mexico, the level of violence has decreased. We are not satisfied. However, we have been able to stop the increase compared to the past. What are we doing? We work with intelligence agencies and attack all those cartels, criminal cartels operating in our country. We don’t attack one group; we attack all groups.
And the other problem, there are some parts of our country where we have a problem, a problem with violence. There are six states where 50 percent of homicides are reported there, and especially in 50 counties of 2,441 that we have in the country, where you see this problem of organized crime homicides, and that’s what we’re working on.
So what have we achieved? Well, about 65,000 people have been detained – 5,400 are members of organized crime. So based on the stats you mentioned, what do they mean? Every murder, every crime has a file. And the different public prosecutors sent us this information. It’s not our numbers or the federal number. It’s numbers coming out of the country’s 32 states, and that’s where we end up with the homicide rate.
But in 2021 and 2022 we see a slight decrease that we report. And we think the trend is down because of all the work we do day in and day out. For example, every day at six o’clock someone from the Security Council – such as Secretary Ebrard – is at work to keep abreast of everything that is happening in the country. And that’s where decisions are made when the whole cabinet is there, the ministers, the secretaries and the president himself.
We – we’re giving this issue the relevance it deserves, and we’re working with the Biden cabinet members who are here today. We are working with Minister Blinken and members of the US government. Thank you.
MR PRICE: That concludes the press conference. Thank you.
