Mexico Turns Towards Multipolarity

An important event took place between 22 and 24 February that not only has a symbolic significance for the Western hemisphere, but could also become an additional catalyst for the establishment of a multipolar world order.

Argentine President Alberto Fernández made an official visit to Mexico at the invitation of its president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The two men agreed to work closely together in the common fight against neoliberalism and to improve integration, including cooperation through CELAC. An agreement was signed on a number of economic issues.

Particular attention was also paid to the G20 as a platform for developing a new international consensus.

An important paragraph of the document relates to the issue of observing elections to prevent coup attempts, as happened in Bolivia in October 2019. Back then, following the classic scenario of colour revolutions, the pro-American opposition declared that it did not accept the election results and began taking over government buildings. As a result, Evo Morales was forced to leave the country.

The two presidents also agreed to actively cooperate to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

It is telling that the Mexican president emphasised the sovereignty of Argentina over the Malvinas (Falkland Islands), which are occupied by the United Kingdom.

The response to the meeting was extremely positive, both in the two countries and in other states of Latin America. There has been talk of a new axis that would help achieve planned projects to integrate the Caribbean, Central and South America and strengthen regional leadership, which could eventually lead to the emergence of a separate geopolitical bloc.

Argentina’s President-elect Alberto Fernandez and Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador chat during a meeting at National Palace in Mexico City, Mexico November 4, 2019

Given America’s attempts to restart its foreign policy, the visit and the agreements have clearly made Washington uneasy.

Straight away, US State Secretary Antony Blinken made a virtual visit to Canada and Mexico. That is, a teleconference was held with the heads of the US diplomatic missions in these countries to discuss current issues. One of these was illegal migration from Central America, since the biggest flow of migrants into the US comes through Mexico. And after Joe Biden’s announcement that the project to build a wall along the border is to be closed, this must surely be of some concern to the White House administration.

Hot on the heels of 1 March, a conversation took place between the heads of Mexico and the US on a wide range of issues, including migration, climate change, the fight against the coronavirus, and economic cooperation. A joint declaration was issued the same day.

It is obvious that these external actions, where the White House is trying to establish a relationship of trust, will be followed by more sophisticated US intelligence operations.

It should be noted that the US has been attempting to put a fair amount of pressure on Mexico recently in the fight against drug cartels, although the drug wars were initially started on the initiative of the US back in 2006.

Last year, a huge scandal erupted between the US and Mexico over attempts to detain Mexican General and former Defence Minister Salvador Cienfuegos.

Since the Mexican authorities rejected America’s accusations that its military had links with the drug cartels, the US judge was forced to drop the charges.

The problem was that a wide array of Mexican politicians expressed concern about exactly how deeply US agents were penetrating Mexican institutions in the war against drugs and possibly wiretapping their own phones.

The fact is that the US Drug Enforcement Agency had handed over as evidence more than 700 pages of conversations to support the investigation and judicial proceedings initiated against Salvador Cienfuegos.

In late February 2021, these documents were published by the Mexican Secretariat of Foreign Affairs, and they consist of thousands of intercepted messages, photographs and screenshots obtained between December 2015 and February 2017. In addition to drug trafficking, the general was also accused of money laundering.

Although there have been such interceptions in the past, previous presidents remained obediently in line with Washington. Only under Obrador have these US intelligence operations been perceived as blatant interference in the internal affairs of the state. At Obrador’s initiative, the Mexican parliament has adopted a new law aimed at limiting the country’s interaction with the US, and now that US officials have lost their instruments of control over the neighbouring country, it is their turn to be uneasy.

Looking at articles published by various US media outlets, there has clearly been an increased interest of late in Mexico and drug trafficking. Time and again, there is talk of the need to change the old approach since it is not working. There are also dedicated resources for monitoring the situation of violence in Mexico.

Given that America uses human rights violations as a standard pretext for interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, as was the case with Libya and Syria, then, at some point, Mexico could become yet another pariah against which the “democratic forces” will be forced to take measures.

America generally identifies Mexico as the primary US source of heroin, while Mexico is not a failed state politically, socially, economically, or militarily.

The problem, however, is that it is America’s second largest export market and its third largest import market. Therefore, these geoeconomic factors will have to be taken into account, which means that Washington cannot and must not resort to various tricks to influence the political elite in Mexico and guarantee its own interests.

And right now, the political situation in Mexico is unique. The president is a member of the socially oriented National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), which ended the reign of the country’s two oldest political groups – the Institutional Revolution Party and the right-wing National Action Party. Even before being elected as president in 2018, Obrador was rather critical of the US. Then Trump’s wall caused tension between the two countries. Joe Biden, of course, will try to get Mexico’s leaders to drop their guard as much as possible and assure them of his very best intentions and their shared cultural and historic values. And whilst this shared heritage is impossible to deny, it is apparent that there is yet another attempt under way in Latin America to unite the efforts of those opposed to Washington’s hegemony.

Oriental Review