The presentation of a new government plan for state-owned oil company Pemex took up a significant portion of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Tuesday morning press conference.
Sheinbaum declined to respond to some questions about issues not related to Pemex, but did speak about a new Mexico-United States security agreement that is expected to be signed soon.
Mexico-US security agreement is ready, says Sheinbaum
Sheinbaum said that a new security agreement between Mexico and the United States is “ready,” but won’t be signed this week.
She said that she would present the new agreement at a future press conference in order to be “very transparent.”
In late 2021, during the governments of Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico and Joe Biden in the United States, the two countries entered into the Bicentennial Framework for Security, Public Health and Safe Communities, which superseded the Mérida Initiative.
Last Thursday, Sheinbaum said that she believed that the new bilateral security agreement would be signed this week.
However, she claimed on Tuesday that her remarks were misunderstood and that she didn’t say that at all.
“… The wording [of the agreement] is practically finished, [but] it still hasn’t been decided when it will be signed,” Sheinbaum said.
She said that the agreement is governed by four key principles.
- Respect for sovereignty.
- Respect for each other’s territory.
- Mutual trust.
- Collaboration and cooperation between Mexico and the United States “within that framework.”
The Trump administration has been pressuring Mexico — including through the threat of tariffs — to do more to combat drug cartels in Mexico and stop the trafficking of narcotics to the United States, especially fentanyl.
A violent start to the week
A reporter asked the president whether recent acts of violence such as the murder of a prosecutor in Tamaulipas and the murder of a union leader in Quintana Roo as well as the discovery of dismembered bodies in Veracruz and the discovery of 32 bodies in a clandestine grave in Irapuato, Guanajuato, could be “used” by the United States in negotiations over the security agreement.
“There is an agreement of collaboration and cooperation,” Sheinbaum said, apparently reiterating that the pact has already been drawn up.
“… We’re a sovereign country, we make decisions as a sovereign country,” she added.
“And with the United States, we collaborate and cooperate and that collaboration and cooperation is very important, but with [respect for each other’s] sovereignty,” Sheinbaum said.
Pushed as to whether acts of violence in Mexico could “raise the price of the negotiation” with the United States, “so to speak,” the president effectively brushed off the question, only responding, “Why?”
A US military intervention in Mexico is ‘not on the table,’ says Sheinbaum
After Sheinbaum’s aforesaid response, a different reporter abruptly asked the president about the possibility of a U.S. military intervention against criminal groups in Mexico.
Sheinbaum reminded the press corps that she had previously rejected an offer from U.S. President Donald Trump to send the United States army into Mexico.
“They can insist again, but that issue is not on the table,” she said.
“… There are other ways of collaborating and coordinating with each other. There is information they can provide us, information we can provide them in a scheme of collaboration without subordination and respecting our sovereignty,” Sheinbaum said.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
