After United States Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar boasted Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has dismissed a security agreement between several US federal agencies and the Zacatecas state government as unconstitutional.
On October 6, Mr. Salazar and representatives of the US agency held a meeting with Zacatecas government officials, including state governor David Monreal Ávila, to secure a bilateral agreement to advance peace efforts in the state, which is about an eight-hour drive north of the city. of Mexico.
According to a video posted on Mr. Monreal’s Twitter account, the deal was anchored on restoring peace to Zacatecas, with the governor ensuring that his state could become a key player between US and Mexican trade. In August, the US State Department issued a travel alert asking US citizens not to travel to the states of Colima, Guerrero, Michoacán, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas, for security reasons.
A few hours after Mr. Monreal on Twitter, Mr. Salazar released a statement of his own explaining the nature of the deal.
“As I pledged a month ago on my first visit to Zacatecas, I returned to the state with a large team from the US government to work side by side with the state, federal and municipal governments in a way that respects the sovereignty of Mexico, as well as with the private sector, civil society and churches for the safety of the residents of Zacatecas,” wrote Mr. Salazar.
In his conference, Mr. Salazar explained the level of involvement the US government would have in Zacatecas’ justice infrastructure.
- International accreditation of three prisons, six forensic laboratories and a police academy.
- Collaborate with the judiciary of Zacatecas to achieve better procedures in the criminal prosecution of crimes and to install a policy of gender perspective, a legal framework to ensure the factor of criminal investigations in gender.
- Improve the investigative capacity of the Office of the Attorney General of Zacatecas against high-impact crimes such as money laundering and kidnapping.
Moreover, Mr. Salazar also explained that US federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the International Bureau of Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) would be involved in peacekeeping efforts.
On October 10, Mr. López Obrador said such an agreement would violate the Mexican constitution since, according to Article 117, “States may not enter into an alliance, treaty or coalition with another state or foreign power under any circumstances.”
In this context, the “historic” agreement of Mr. Salazar with the government of Zacatecas would be in violation of Mexican law.
While the Mexican president assured that the agreement was illegal, Mr. López Obrador said there was no need for a “scandal” and that Mr. Salazar was not to interfere in the sovereignty of Mexico.
However, the President cited the diplomatic disaster between the North American neighbors when the US “improperly and without informing the Mexican government” arrested the former head of the Mexican armed forces, Salvador Cienfuegos.
The arrest of Mr. Cienfuegos by US authorities in October 2020 on alleged drug-trafficking charges unleashed a diplomatic firestorm, with the Mexican government calling for interference in national affairs as it passed a bill that cuts the presence of foreign federal officers, such as agents of the DEA in Mexican territory.
A few hours after the comments of Mr. López Obrador, Mr. Montreal is explained in a press conference that there is nothing to worry about as no official agreement has been signed.
However, he explained that the bilateral talks on the security of Zacatecas were in response to the travel warning issued by US officials in August.
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