López Obrador to Biden: "You are the first president of the United States who has not built a meter of the wall and I thank you"

The North American Leaders Summit has closed with praise, veiled claims and promises.

Joe Biden, Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Justin Trudeau concluded a grueling diplomatic day on Tuesday with a declaration of intent: to turn North America into a commercial and political bloc with its own weight and that can compete in the current geopolitical scenario.

On the ground, beyond the agreements signed on paper and that have been made known little by little, the leaders of the United States, Mexico and Canada have taken advantage of the so-called

to stand up to the criticism they face in their countries, strengthen their image as heads of government and push their agendas in the regional forum.

"You are the first president of the United States who has not built a single meter of the wall and I thank you," López Obrador told his American counterpart.

Biden, for his part, has defended his border management plan and has double ruled out that it was a "too soft" or "strong-handed" program.

Trudeau has declared that his country is ready for global challenges and that he will endorse his alliance with Washington.

Biden brought a broad work agenda on his first visit to Mexico in almost two years in office.

The US president wanted to talk about the fentanyl trade, the latest chapter in the war on drugs, in the land where the cartels have established themselves as the main source of the opioid that kills tens of thousands of people by overdose each year.

He sought to give legitimacy to a new immigration plan announced last week, with which he plans to receive 30,000 immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela every month in exchange for the Mexican government taking care of all those who do not meet the requirements. .

The US president declared that it was time to oil regional supply chains and insisted again and again on the need to invest in semiconductors, a trade area dominated by China and Taiwan.

He was responding to questions about the discovery of secret documents dating back to his time as vice president.

"I want to thank you, Mr. President, for taking a step forward and receiving in Mexico those who do not follow the legal paths that we have established, instead of trying to cross the border between our countries," said the man in charge of the White House. .

After concluding the three-way work tour, López Obrador has not given weight to the burden of safeguarding the border or to the impact of the war against drug trafficking in the Latin American country, in a fight that has lasted for more than 15 years and It has left hundreds of thousands dead.

The last 29 deaths were the high cost of capturing Ovidio Guzmán, the son of El Chapo, four days after Biden's arrival.

Instead, the Mexican president has celebrated the existence of a different spirit to face the humanitarian drama on the border and the promise to invest billions of dollars in development cooperation that attacks the root causes of the exodus in Central America.

He has scored a point with his supporters by getting Biden and Trudeau to land at Felipe Ángeles International Airport, a symbol of his mandate that it is not certified to fly commercial flights to the United States.

And he has asked Biden to advocate before Congress for the regularization of 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US, an immigration agreement that no Mexican president has managed to secure.

He accepted the challenge of speaking about migration, but on his terms, like the other presidents.

Trudeau has applauded North America's intention to be more competitive and to face up to global challenges.

“There is much more that can be done”, he pointed out to the media at the closing ceremony.

The prime minister has appreciated the praise from his host for seeking to expand work visas for Mexican immigrants.

But he has focused more on building a common front with Washington to deal with Russia's “brutal war” against Ukraine and the never-ending crisis in Haiti.

During the meeting, a brief mention was also made about the democratic assault in Brazil.

The Canadian leader has given a limited speech in French and English and has stressed that his relationship with Biden is unbeatable, compared to the "uncertainty" that reigned during the Donald Trump Administration.

The joint declaration dealt with the six thematic axes that were initially raised, but avoids putting a number on the economic agreements or detailing specific plans against regional threats.

It focuses on broadly shared diagnoses of diversity, equity, and inclusion;

climate change and environment;

competitiveness;

migration and development;

Health and security.

"The leaders are determined to strengthen the security, prosperity, sustainability and integration of our region," the official document reads.

The closing ceremony of the trilateral summit has given space for only one question from a reporter from each country.

The chosen journalists have tried to get the three leaders to respond to their questions, but the protocol has prevented it.

Even so, López Obrador has stood for more than 20 minutes in front of the microphone to review his political project, in an intervention that ranged from his social programs and his promise to eradicate corruption to the damage to the health of vapers. and his vision of how young people should seek happiness without having to take drugs.

Biden and Trudeau have waited patiently, staring into space, nodding when alluded to, and briefly ducking their heads after remaining standing during the speech, visibly exhausted by the avalanche of official acts.

conference

like the ones that the Mexican president gives every day.

At times, there has been laughter and stupefied faces among the reporters who attended the coverage and the delegations of the three governments.

In another section, the photographers, more irreverent, have launched whistles that slipped into the broadcast of the act to demand that the speech end once and for all.

“You give very long answers, right?” A foreign journalist asked her local colleagues ironically.

"I'm out of time and it's very cold, thank you very much with all my heart," said López Obrador smiling before posing once again with his guests.

Biden has apologized to reporters for not answering their questions and has gone directly to the airport, two hours behind his original itinerary.

The

with around thirty escort vehicles, made its way through downtown Mexico City to take it to board Air Force One, which touched down in Mexico for the first time in almost a decade and has left for Washington.

López Obrador and Trudeau have scheduled a bilateral meeting for this Wednesday.

subscribe here

to the EL PAÍS México

and receive all the key information on current affairs in this country