Mexico's leader is taking aim at some U.S. lawmakers who are demanding that the Biden administration characterize Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and authorize the U.S. military to help combat them. 

What You Need To Know

  • Mexico's leader is denouncing U.S. lawmakers who are demanding that the Biden administration characterize Mexican drug cartels as terrorist groups and authorize the U.S. military to help in combating them

  • Two congressional delegations traveled to Mexico City last week to bring their concerns directly to the Mexican leader

  • With Mexico having national elections this year and the U.S. next year, such fiery rhetoric will likely continue on both sides of the border 

  • Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who led a separate bipartisan delegation to Mexico City, said lawmakers clarified to Mexican President López Obrador that his administration must do more to tackle the flow of drugs and other shared problems

Two congressional delegations traveled to Mexico City last week to bring their concerns directly to the Mexican leader.

"Our trade relationships with Mexico has always been important, and we thought it was really important to be able to go down there and discuss trade issues," said Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas.

The North Texas congresswoman was stateside Monday at a Republican gathering in Orlando after meeting with Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador in Mexico City. She was part of a House Ways and Means Committee delegation that discussed issues of mutual concern, including the fentanyl crisis.

"We'd like for him to acknowledge the problem; what we saw from him over and over again was a complete denial and blame in the U.S.," she added. “We're seeing the damage that's occurring in our country every single day, and if you will not handle it, you are forcing our hand.”

Due to the fentanyl crisis, U.S. apprehension regarding Mexico's criminal cartels had already begun to mount. Then the killing of two kidnapped Americans this month in the border city of Matamoros added to those fears. Five alleged members of a notorious Mexican cartel have been charged in the case.

Last week, López Obrador lashed out against U.S. advisories that warned Americans about traveling to several Mexican states.

“In the past few years is when more Americans have come to live in Mexico. So, what’s happening? Why the paranoia?” López Obrador said a recent press conference.

The Mexican president went on to say there was “a campaign against Mexico from conservative U.S. politicians that don’t want this country to keep developing for the good of the Mexican people.”

He said Mexico is safer than the U.S. and pushed back against the Republican-led effort to designate certain drug cartels as terrorists and use the military against those organizations. He called the proposal offensive to Mexico's sovereignty. 

Van Duyne said he made similar claims in his meeting with members of Congress.

"He wanted to let us know that Mexico is so much safer than the U.S. You know, there's fact and there's fiction, and then there's this absolute fantasy. This man is living in a fantasy world," Van Duyne told Spectrum News.

When asked about some concerns that such intervention would strain relations, Van Duyne said, “We need to make sure that we're protecting our country, and when you've got drug cartels that are acting in every way like ISIS, they're being terrorists.”

López Obrador held a massive rally attended by tens of thousands of people in Mexico City over the weekend, which was seen by many as an opener to the process to choose his predecessor. Some experts in U.S.-Mexico relations say his response to U.S. criticism is paying political dividends.

"Any U.S. president would be very envious of the high level of support that López Obrador enjoys in opinion polls," said David Shirk, the chair of the political science and international relations department at the University of San Diego.

"But I think that part of the appeal of this kind of fiery nationalist rhetoric for many of his supporters is that he's seen as standing up to U.S. imposition or U.S. aggression," he added. “What may be agitating to some people in the United States is the fact that this particular president, who has a more of a populist, nationalist orientation, is speaking out very vocally and negatively about those suggestions.”

With Mexico and the U.S. having national elections next year, such fiery rhetoric will likely continue on both sides of the border.

Experts say both countries must cooperate in combating several shared problems, from migration to gun violence to drug trafficking.

“We should be outraged that there are 100,000 Americans dying every year from drugs. We must do something about it. But we must do the right things. And that's where I think we have to really evaluate all of the policy options,” Shirk said. "That kind of militaristic rhetoric is going to do more harm than good in, at least for the foreseeable future, in how this government, how the López Obrador administration responds to our real need, and we have a legitimate and real need to get the drug problem under control.”

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, led a separate bipartisan delegation of House and Senate members to Mexico City. They had briefings with U.S. intelligence officials, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Ambassador-to-Mexico Ken Salazar.  Cornyn said lawmakers expressed concerns about security, the flow of drugs and migrations with López Obrador.

“Our delegation made clear to President López Obrador that his administration must do more to address these issues so that we can maintain our historically strong economic and cultural partnership, and I am hopeful that our candid conversations will lead to collaborative solutions that make both countries safer and more prosperous,” Cornyn said in a statement.