Marcelo Ebrard, Chancellor of Mexico at a press conference AFP
Each step that a foreign agent is going to take must first have the approval of the Foreign Ministry.
Mexico has strengthened the regulation of foreign services against the background of the recent diplomatic dispute that sparked the arrest in California of General Salvador Cienfuegos.
The arrest of the former Secretary of Defense of the Government of Enrique Peña Nieto, forged during years of investigations by the United States Federal Anti-Drug Agency (DEA) in Mexican territory, was considered an outrage by the Government due to the lack of communication and unilateral activity from the US authorities.
The annoyance grew in the National Palace, where the anger has become a reform approved in record time to a 1992 rule less than a month after the general's return to Mexico.
The opinion, approved on Wednesday in the Senate, insistently underlines the principle of reciprocity.
Mexico seeks to shield the exchange of information with other governments on sensitive matters such as organized crime and drug trafficking.
Especially with the United States, with which it maintains a historic and delicate collaboration through a handful of bilateral agreements.
The northern neighbor has almost a dozen agencies in Mexican territory, including security, customs, migration and defense agencies.
In recent days, and after the
Cienfuegos
affair
, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard revealed that the DEA has at least 50 agents in the national territory.
"Let's put an end to 100 years of violations of our sovereignty and failures in the protection of Mexicans," cried Ricardo Monreal, the coordinator of Morena, López Obrador's party, in the Senate during the session.
Monreal pointed out that only the DEA has 11 offices in the country.
"But the number of agents operating is unknown, ignorance that has led them to commit excessive acts, since their presence was regulated until now in the dark and on many occasions the authorities refused to accept their official presence in our country", added the senator, a key piece for the reform of the law to be approved without obstacles in the busy agenda at the end of the legislative period.
During the negotiations for the return of Cienfuegos, Mexico even threatened to expel the local operations of the DEA, an order that was qualified days later by President López Obrador.
From now on, any foreign agent must have a prior authorization to operate in Mexico, which will include a permit to carry weapons.
Its operations will be limited solely to the development of liaison activities for the exchange of information with Mexican authorities.
They will have to report their activities through a monthly report, as well as foreign embassies and missions.
At the top of the pyramid, assuming all control, the norm woven by the attorney for the presidency places the Chancellery.
A bit more for Marcelo Ebrard's team, who after leading the diplomatic battle for Cienfuegos, continues to increase their powers.
On this occasion, Foreign Affairs will carry out a task that was previously occupied by the Government, a secretariat that has been losing influence as the Moreno administration advances.
Something similar happened last year when another decree handed over immigration policy to the Foreign Ministry.
In this case, the new regulations even establish the creation of a High Level Security Group, an auxiliary body of the National Security Council, which will be chaired by Ebrard.
The PAN senators criticized during the session the growth of foreign faculties, turned into a kind of "super secretariat, to which foreign agents must report the activities they carry out and the information they obtain."
The opposition group argued that it was placed hierarchically above even the Attorney General's Office (FGR).
The opinion was finally approved with 71 votes in favor, 21 against and one abstention.
The also PAN member García Cabeza de Vaca stressed for his part that it violates the autonomy of states and municipalities.
The new regulation establishes that the different echelons of the Administration must immediately communicate with a written report addressed to the Ministry of Foreign Relations "of the holding of any meeting, exchange of information, telephone calls or communications that they hold with foreign agents."