Andrés Manuel López Obrador, during his morning conference this Friday, in Mexico City.Rogelio Morales Ponce (CUARTOSCURO)
Mexico has once again put on the agenda the search for solutions to the migration crisis. The Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador has given new details about the summit on October 22 in Palenque (Chiapas) to address the exodus of migrants and join efforts with other leaders of Latin American countries on the route to the United States. "It will be called the Meeting for a Fraternal and Well-Being Neighborhood. They will be with us presidents, President Gustavo Petro confirmed to me that he will attend and others," said the president, who held a call with his Colombian counterpart on Tuesday. The call comes after the Joe Biden Administration announced last week an extension of 32 kilometers of the border fence. "We can do many things ourselves and also if we agree, we can seek the cooperation of the United States Government, that they help, they are doing it, but that they apply more to address the causes, not only to be thinking about walls or militarizing the border, but to meet the needs of the people," López Obrador said.
The Mexican president had already announced earlier this week that the high-level meeting in Palenque will include the attendance of leaders and foreign ministers. 11 countries are invited: Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Panama and Venezuela. Lopez Obrador said Monday that all governments had agreed to send at least one representative, though confirmation from Guatemala and Colombia had been pending. The summit is scheduled to be held a week before the regional elections in Colombia on October 29 and the only thing that is known about the call between the two presidents is what the Mexican president revealed.
"We are quite worried," López Obrador said of the migration phenomenon. He also noted that there was a need for a regional response and mutual agreement among all the countries involved. "The migratory flow is growing, and we have to look for options, addressing the causes, seeking to help each other," the president said. Mexico has insisted on the urgency of improving living conditions to prevent thousands of people from having to leave their countries due to the lack of opportunities. "The migrant does not start walking for pleasure, he does it out of necessity," said the president.
López Obrador's request to the Biden government is also understood as a response to the pressures of those who call for a strong hand to contain migratory flows. The announcement of the wall came amid the visit of Antony Blinken, the head of US diplomacy, to the Mexican capital. For some specialists in the bilateral relationship, Washington sent a message that Mexico has to do more and act decisively as a transit country. On the other hand, the Mexican Government now asks to redouble the commitment in cooperation and support to the countries that send migrants.
Mexico also presents itself as an interlocutor with countries such as Cuba and, above all, Venezuela. At the same time that the expansion of the wall was announced, the White House announced that it will resume mass deportations of Venezuelan migrants. More than 7.7 million citizens have left the South American country in recent years, according to United Nations figures.
It remains to be seen whether the diplomatic efforts have an effect on the ground, as apprehensions of migrants at the U.S. southern border are poised to reach historic highs. "There is a bad habit of holding meetings, summits for everyone in the world, but there are no results, it is like political tourism," said Lopez Obrador, who during his tenure has been reluctant to attend diplomatic meetings outside Mexico. "Here what we want is to see what we do in the face of the growth of the migratory flow, in a very concrete way, how we help each other and how we help our peoples," he added.
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