This article discusses the most recent security meeting between the United States and Mexico. During the meeting a number of topics were discussed however missing among these topics was that of imigration. This is growing increasingly prevalent as more and more migrants from all over Latin America and the Caribbean flock to the borders. Neglecting the immigration issue in favor of drug cartels, human trafficking smuggling, previously the US has promised to provide a substantial amount of guns and ammunitions to combat the cartels growing presence. This method was previously unsuccessful and caused one of the largest periods of violence in Mexican history. Historically this effort to reduce drug trafficking by brute force and violence has only spawned more violence and the cartels only grew more powerful and prevalent. This security council meeting has decided to focus more on treating addiction and struggling economic regions.
This relates to international relations by showing a marked change in Mexicos and the US’s view on the war on drugs. From the 70s-2000s the policy was alway the “kingpin” strategy where government officials and DEA agents were tasked with locating and “apprehending” cartel leaders. This often resulted in their death and a power vacuum being created and subsequently filled by another kingpin. This ultimately accomplished very little in terms of stopping the flow of drugs. In recent years we have seen a change to the outlook on the issue with an effort to decriminalize and treat users of narcotics. This new approach has seen a dramatic reduction in crime and drug use in areas where it is implemented. The new outlook and cooperation between Mexico and the US sets out to solve this problem domestically through treatment and care. Ideally this would get those people addicted care, and by doing so would cut out the major cartels source of income and perhaps lead to a weakening of its hold over the region.