What to expect from the North American Leaders Summit?

From 9 to 11 January it takes place the summit of US leaders in Mexico Citywhere the presidents of Canada, Justin Trudeau; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Joe Bidenand Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obradoras a guest, as well as their respective delegations, they will discuss various foreign policy issues involving the region.

In an interview for Vida Nueva, the master Gerardo Cruz Gonzálezcoordinator of the master’s degree in Christian Social Thought of the Lumen Gentium Catholic University and of the Mexican Institute of Christian Social Doctrine (Imodosc) reflects on what to expect from this summitmainly on the topics of migration, drug trafficking and violence.

Drugs and weapons, critical points

For the coordinator of the Formation Commission of the Latin American and Caribbean Ecclesial Network for Migration, Refugees, Displacement and Trafficking (Clamor) of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM), it is important to clarify that this summit is taking place in a context of social attrition , especially in the United States and Mexico, caused by the drug and arms trafficking.

And it is that –he says– it turns out alarming and scandalous the number of young people and adults who die in the American Union due to the use of fentanyl, mainly; even if Mexico too begins to suffer the deadly ravages caused by the consumption of these drugs, often processed in our country.

In addition to this, he points out, there is in the United States and Mexico a high number of people dying in violent acts with firearms:

“In Mexico the use of weapons has become so common, and that is why we can witness daily events in which there is no shortage of extrajudicial executions, disappearances and violence; Similarly, in the United States we see shootings breaking out in schools or at public events. This violence must be addressed. in the social context, as it is often exacerbated by drugs,” she said.

What would be the solution?

For the specialist, the solution is not a punitive policy, but rather having a culture in which young people also feel involved in the educational, work, cultural, productive and work processes that keep them away from the use of drugs; “Many of our young people do it due to the context of family and social abandonment, and because the government leaves them adrift in organized crime,” he says.

For this he trusted that the three countries will adopt humane measures to address the problems, “because With the capture of Ovidio Guzmán, the drug trafficking problem will not end, drug production, drug transfer and consumption, but they simply change their pivot. The problem is much more complicated and requires the assumption of different, organic, global policies at the service of people, especially the most vulnerable groups”.

Migration, a mandatory theme

As for the immigration issue, teacher Cruz González highlighted the number of people traveling to the north of the country, trying to reach the United States, many of them waiting to obtain political asylum; They are migrants from Haiti, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, Central America, Mexico, but also from South American countries. Currently many of them are blocked throughout the country (due to the impossibility of entering the American Union), especially at the border, where camps have been set up.

he remembered it this situation is due in part to US immigration policy, specifically Title 42emerged in the administration of the president Donald Trump to prevent the entry of migrants, arguing the conditions of national security before the Covid-19.

“For this reason, many of the migrants remained in Mexico, and others who managed to enter the United States were repatriated. Our country has embarked on a program that is no longer in force, called ‘Remain in Mexico’, which had as its objective for asylum seekers in the United States to stay in our country while his legal situation was being decided; the program was passed because there was an overflow of asylum-seeking migrants,” she explained.

urgent arrangements

For this he assured that what is expected of this summit, in terms of migrants’ rights, is assume the Global Compact for safe, orderly and regular migrationprepared under the auspices of the United Nations, which strives for safe, orderly, humane and regulated migration, which has not happened practically anywhere in the world.

“We hope that the three US leaders will take responsibility for these migratory processes not only within their countries, but also in the regional context., and for this they should take into account what their governments signed in the middle of last year in Los Angeles to promote political, economic and security conditions, both social and environmental, so that people lead peaceful, productive and dignified in their countries of origin, which in the social doctrine of the Church is known as the right not to migrate; that is, to have the basic conditions for personal and community development in the places of origin”.

The specialist hopes that the presidents of the United States, Canada and Mexico will do the same achieve the United Nations development goals for 2030 which, in terms of migration, proposes the integral development of people in their place of origin or in the communities of arrival, where they must be welcomed so that they can integrate into their societies and their economy.

“Ideally one would expect the three presidents commit to protect the safety and dignity of all migrants, be refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons, regardless of their migration status, for the mere fact of being human beings”.

Tackle the root of the problem

He also considered it essential that the North American Summit turn around see the needs of neighboring countries to the south, especially Central America, where human development is very low, and therefore where it would be necessary to invest so that people can work, be educated and have a dignified life within their countries; as well as to other nations where development is practically nil, as in the case of Haiti.

In this sense, he assured him Biden came to this summit with a breakthrough by extending 42 titlesoffering 30,000 asylum visas a month for people from Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua, but with restrictions on their entry through legal channels, which affects most people who have to forcibly migrate.

“For his part, Mexico is forced to welcome the deporteesreturned from the United States, which is absolutely unfair,” he said.

He recalled that for organizations like the Red Clamour, these peaks are very important because they can generate greater social exclusion or take advantage of the opportunity to build a more just society.

The importance of Christian social thought

Finally, the teacher Gerardo Cruz referred to the importance of Christian social thought and the social doctrine of the Church, which provide fundamental elements have an adequate reading of reality and not a simplistic reading where there are good and bad, but of reality as a social complexity to which everyone, whether believers or not, can contribute.

“There are peace promoters, human rights workers, migrant advocates, people working against trafficking, in favor of restoring peace in places of great conflict, who they have the Gospel at the center of all their activity: the love that God has reflected to all human beings and that we, as baptized persons, have the responsibility to reflect this in all our social relationships”, he concluded.