Скачать или смотреть US asks Mexico to allow in DEA agents

(9 Oct 2021) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4347893

The new U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, said Saturday the United States has asked the Mexican government to allow agents, including those from the Drug Enforcement Administration, to work in Mexico.
Last year Mexico pulled foreign agents' immunity from prosecution and imposed strict limits on their contacts with their Mexican counterparts.
Analysts say that inevitably affects the DEA's ability to do intelligence gathering on Mexican drug cartels.
Since some DEA personnel are already in Mexico, it appears the U.S. request is for more to be allowed in, or for those here to be allowed to work more freely.
The United States has been inundated by fentanyl that is largely produced in Mexico using precursor chemicals from China.
Salazar said Mexico has committed to fighting drug cartels under the new bilateral Bicentennial Framework for Security announced Friday to replace the Merida Initiative.
"We have an absolute commitment in the United States and Mexico to go after the trafficking and narcotics, and we have to break those chains we have to make sure we are doing it together, the Mexican government and the U.S. government," Salazar said in his first press conference since he arrived in Mexico City in September.
Salazar also spoke about the need for a "regional response" to another major U.S. concern, the tens of thousands of migrants _ many from Haiti _ who are either in Mexico or heading there from South America.
Last month, thousands of Haitian migrants crossed the Rio Grande and set up an encampment under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas.
"Secretary (Antony) Blinken is very committed to working on developing a regional solution, and it has to be one that is led both by the United States and Mexico," Salazar said.
That was an apparent reference to the fact that many Haitian immigrants already had asylum or refugee status in countries like Brazil or Chile, before setting out this summer for the United States.
Mexico, for its part, has begun flying some Haitians home on repatriation flights to Port-au-Prince.
Salazar called the new Bicentennial Framework "a milestone,"and said it marked "a new era of partnership."
The Merida Initiative, in its early years, focused largely on U.S. donations of law enforcement equipment, including aircraft.
The Bicentennial agreement is expected to focus more on economic development.
The name is a reference to the 200th anniversary of Mexico's independence and relations with the United States.

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