As reported in the Monitor last week, the recent U.S. indictment of 10 Mexican officials poses a key test for President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo: how best to balance pressures from its neighbor and largest trading partner with the domestic imperative to defend sovereignty – while also tackling cartel crime and serving justice for ordinary Mexicans?More broadly, this development also tests both countries’ determination to collaboratively pursue legitimate shared interests in a way that stabilizes...

Rohullah Osmani and Tony Wayne co-chaired a conversation looking at the US-Iran conflict and its effect on Afghanistan. Former Ambassador John Limbert shared perspectives on US policy toward Iran and Afghanistan's former Ambassador to Iran and Pakistan, Mohamed Umar Daudzai, shared perspective on the current conflict involving Iran, the United States and others.

Discussion of Uzbek foreign policy; relations with Afghanistan.

This Wednesday, April 8, WOLA hosted a discussion of "Spring of the Vanishing," a documentary film about the wave of forced disappearances that took place in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico in the spring of 2018. Maureen Meyer of WOLA was on the panel alongside filmmaker Andrew Glazer, journalist J. Weston Phippen, Maria Elena Dominguez, a mother of one of the victims, and former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Earl Anthony Wayne.

As a former Ambassador, I was able to add a description of some of the history of US-Mexico collaboration and challenges of managing this very difficult situation of trying to restore order and justice to parts of Mexico during this long period of turbulence and violence.

WOLA description of the event and the discussion:

In just a few months in 2018, dozens of people were disappeared in Nuevo Laredo. Investigations by families, human rights organizations, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, among others, found that Mexico's Navy — deployed to the city to fight organized crime — was responsible. It's a case that intersects with WOLA’s work: the U.S. has long supported and trained Mexico's security forces, and backed a “war on drugs” that has resulted in grave human rights violations.

Beyond U.S.-Mexico security cooperation, much of our conversation centered on what military deployment has meant for human rights in Mexico, and what accountability looks like when state institutions are the ones committing abuses. María Elena Domínguez, whose teenage son Jorge, a U.S. citizen, was among those disappeared, joined us remotely and spoke about where things stand today. Mexico's Navy was required to issue a public apology in 2021, and some criminal cases have been opened, but as María Elena made clear, justice is still a long way off; the whereabouts of Jorge and dozens of other victims remain unknown.

The film grew out of Phippen's investigative reporting for Politico Magazine and does a remarkable job of bringing these families' stories to a wider audience. It's available for streaming starting April 14 — I hope you'll watch it: https://geni.us/springofthevanishing.

Wayne briefed group on Afghanistan situation and dangers inherent in the situation.

Discussing the situation around the US intervention in Venezuela, Arresting President Maduro, and what can come next.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j7WsxDCfAcMYiujv4jrqibAX4fVuFcif/view

Interviewed by El Universal, I comment that the US has much more to gain by finding a way for Mexico to be tougher against cartels, than to taking action in Mexico itself.

MEXICO CITY, Oct 14 (Reuters) - The U.S. government has revoked the visas of at least 50 politicians and government officials in Mexico amid the Trump administration's crackdown on drug cartels and their suspected political allies, two Mexican officials told Reuters.
A handful of these cases have been publicized, but Reuters reporting shows the visa cancellations are far more widespread than previously reported.

According to three former U.S. ambassadors, previous administrations have revoked visas in this way - but not to the same degree, which they said was indicative of President Donald Trump's willingness to use the diplomatic tool to achieve policy goals.

"The Trump administration is finding new ways to exert more pressure on Mexico," said Tony Wayne, U.S. ambassador to Mexico from 2011 to 2015.
The move has sent quiet shockwaves through Mexico's political elite, who regularly travel to the U.S. and require a visa to do so. It also marks a significant broadening of U.S. anti-narcotics action, with the Trump administration targeting active politicians usually seen as too diplomatically sensitive.
One of the sources, a senior Mexican politician, said more than 50 politicians from the ruling Morena party have had their visas revoked, as well as dozens of officials from other political parties. The sources requested anonymity to speak on a sensitive topic. ...