U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar on Wednesday lashed out at the Mexican government’s security policy that he said did not work, and criticized the previous president’s rejection of millions of dollars in security aid for ideological reasons.
Furthermore, he emphasized that denying reality and saying that nothing is happening does not solve the problem.
“The strategy of ‘hugs, not bullets’ did not work,” said Salazar, referring to the motto of former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Salazar maintained a cordial relationship with him until a few months ago, when the situation became tense.
The current president, Claudia Sheinbaum—who took power on October 1—maintains the defense of this strategy of avoiding direct confrontation with the cartels, although recent confrontations suggest that the armed forces are a little more willing to open fire.
“Mexico deserves to live without fear,” said the diplomat in a press conference in a harsher tone than usual, when there are just over two months left until the government changes in the United States. “To talk (about) that there is no problem is to deny reality,” he declared. “There is a very big problem.”
Hours later, Mexico “expressed its surprise at the messages issued” by Salazar in a diplomatic note sent to the United States embassy, the Foreign Ministry reported in a statement.
To exemplify the failure of the security strategy, the ambassador referred to what is happening in the state of Sinaloa, “where deaths are seen everywhere.”
On the same Wednesday, the police chief of that state in western Mexico, Gerardo Mérida, reported the discovery of “a mound with several bodies.” According to Mérida, five bodies had been identified, “but there are some loose parts, where they are dismembered,” so the number of victims could rise to seven.
“We are doing well, we are going to get out of this situation soon,” said the governor of Sinaloa, Rubén Rocha – from the same Morena party as the former president and his successor – on the same day, who has been minimizing the violence that has arisen between factions of the Sinaloa cartel for some time. after two of its leaders, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López, traveled to Texas and were detained there on July 25 in an operation that still has unclear points.
Zambada said he had been kidnapped by Guzmán López, who turned himself in to US authorities. Mexico opened an investigation, upset by the lack of details from Washington, which it indirectly blames for the violence unleashed.
Salazar pointed out that it was then that cooperation stopped. “There the doors of the government of Mexico were completely closed. Never, never those of the government of the United States,” he declared.
But he added that relations already had problems before.
“Unfortunately that coordination has failed in the last year, largely because the previous president did not want to receive the support of the United States, he closed the door to investments” of more than 32 million dollars because “he did not want the investment to reach Mexico to help with the security of the Mexican people,” he denounced.
The diplomat did not clarify what type of aid it was, but said that she is still detained and “that is not a good example of how to work.”
During his government, López Obrador cut funding for the police forces and gave the Army, Navy and the militarized National Guard the main security duties. In addition, he rejected US support for military equipment and training for security forces.
The ambassador assured that, for Sheinbaum’s plan to be successful, “it cannot remain in the explanations of the past” of rejecting support “due to ideological problems”, but must work to improve relations with the United States and confront reality with “the truth” and with money for security programs, instead of applying “republican austerity.”
“What scares one (is that) there is not going to be the investment that is required,” lamented the ambassador. And “you can’t pay a police officer almost anything and expect him to do his job.”
On the same Wednesday, the Senate approved a constitutional reform that gives the Ministry of Security and the National Guard new powers in investigative matters. The initiative, which will now go to Congress, was unanimously endorsed by all parties, but experts warn that, to be effective, it will need citizen controls and money.
Salazar also noted that to reduce insecurity it is necessary “a justice system that really works” and “have good investigations, that not only talk about zero impunity, but that really get to the truth.”
The United States has harshly criticized the recent reform of the Judiciary in Mexico, which in its opinion will deteriorate democracy.
However, he shared the president’s commitment to continue influencing the prevention of causes with social programs, in the same way that López Obrador did.
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