- The Mexico-US Binational Committee is installed to coordinate cooperation with states and municipalities
Today, a meeting was held in the Foreign Ministry between a Mexican delegation led by Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard and Security Secretary Rosa Icela Rodríguez and a United States delegation led by Ambassador Ken Salazar. The delegations announced the main achievements and progress of the binational Bicentennial Framework signed last year, and installed the Mexico-United States Binational Committee that will monitor the binational projects.
In his remarks, Secretary Ebrard highlighted ten specific achievements under the Bicentennial Framework, including stronger mechanisms to deal with addictions as a public health problem, for which a Memorandum of Understanding on Joint Cooperation Activities on Mental Health and Addictions was signed. Foreign Secretary Ebrard also highlighted the prosecution of six high-level arms traffickers in the United States responsible for providing arms to organized crime groups in Mexico.
Since the Bicentennial Framework was signed, more fentanyl synthesis laboratories have been dismantled and cocaine seizures have increased, as has the registration of guns in the eTrace system, which makes it possible to trace the purchase history of firearms used in violent crimes.
Secretary Rosa Icela Rodríguez presented the results of Mexico's effort to combat drug trafficking. She highlighted the increased seizures of firearms, fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine and other drugs. “The Bicentennial Framework is the most important bilateral cooperation instrument we have in security matters, which respects national sovereignty and commits us to collaborate without conditions,” she said. “We have challenges that can only be faced with joint actions. That is why we are working together for a safer region, because we are united for peace, because we are neighbors, we are partners and, as we have said on other occasions, in many areas of our border, we are also family.”
Lastly, Ambassador Ken Salazar said that the Bicentennial Framework is the first program that encompasses issues of health, security and violence on both sides of the border. He said that under the leadership of Presidents Biden and López Obrador, the trafficking of people, firearms and fentanyl is being combated.
"You can't change the realities of the past in a few months, but we are making progress, and I am happy to report on that progress, and that our team is working very well with our colleagues in the Mexican government to make a difference in this new commitment," he said.
The Binational Committee is made up of officials from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Security and the National Intelligence Center (CNI). For the United States, it includes representatives from its embassy in Mexico, the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The Bicentennial Framework, established in late 2021, represents a new vision of security and collaboration between Mexico and the United States that is based on respect for the sovereignty of each country. This new framework establishes a comprehensive and long-term approach to guiding our bilateral actions in order to build a system of health, peace, justice and respect for the rule of law.
