Mexico talks tough to Trump as border
wall funding appears to stall
Foreign minister called plans
‘hostile’ and an ‘absolute waste of money’, as Trump appears to back down on
demand for funding from Congress
David Agren in Mexico City
Wednesday 26 April 2017 01.03 BST Last modified on Wednesday
26 April 2017 04.23 BST
Mexican foreign minister Luis Videgaray tore into the idea
of building a border, calling it “unfriendly, “a hostile act” and “unlikely to
fulfill the objectives” of stopping the flow of migrants and illegal
merchandise into the United States.
Appearing before the international relations commission in
the lower house of Congress, Videgaray unleashed uncharacteristically tough
talk on Donald Trump’s demand that Mexico pay for building a border, telling
lawmakers that Mexico would not put a peso towards the construction costs. He
also called plans for fencing off the frontier “an absolute waste of money” and
said Mexico would pursue legal measures if its borders were infringed upon by the
wall.
“The wall is not part of any bilateral discussion nor should
it be,” Videgaray said. “Under no scenario will we contribute economically to
an action of this kind.”
The foreign minister’s comments come as the US president,
who has insisted Mexico will pay for his campaign promise of building a border
wall, pressures Congress to fund construction in the meantime. Trump had
demanded Congress provide immediate funding for a border wall – even raising
the possibility of a government shutdown – but appeared to be backing down on
Tuesday.
Political analysts in Mexico saw Trump’s difficulties in
persuading his own country’s Congress on key campaign promises – repealing and
replacing Obamacare and finding funding for a border wall – as an opportunity
for Mexican functionaries, who have preferred to not antagonize Trump, to take
a tougher tone.
“Tough talk about the wall right now, right after Trump
backing down, is low risk and comes without cost,” said Carlos Bravo Regidor,
professor at the Centre for Research and Teaching of Economics in Mexico City.
“(Trump’s) been all bark, no bite.”
Trump’s insistence on building a border wall has complicated
Mexico-US relations, which had become close and cooperative on trade, commerce
and security matters after decades of indifference and mutual distrust.
Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto scrapped a trip to
Washington in late January after Trump tweeted that his Mexican counterpart
“should cancel” if a payment was not forthcoming. Both men subsequently spoke
and agreed to not publicly discuss payment, though Trump took to Twitter again
to advocate for building the border wall.
“The wall is going to get built and we’re setting record
numbers in terms of stopping people from coming in and stopping drugs from
coming in,” Trump said Tuesday, referring to a sharp decline in the number of
undocumented migrants detained at the southern border since he took office.
Roughly one third of the nearly 2,000-mile Mexico-US border
is already blocked by a barrier, something Trump wants to complete and insists
will stem the flow of migrants and stop drugs from entering the United States.
Security analysts have questioned Trump’s assertion the wall
will stop illegal drugs since most illegal merchandise passes through legal
ports of entry.
One member of Congress, Senator Ted Cruz, introduced the “EL
CHAPO Act” – named for imprisoned Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquín Guzmán – on
Tuesday, which would send any money forfeited by El Chapo or other drug bosses
to build a border wall.
Guzmán, whose cartel smuggled tons of drugs through tunnels
under the border and once escaped from prison via a tunnel connecting his cell
with the outside world, was extradited on the eve of Trump’s 20 January
inauguration and prosecutors are seeking the criminal forfeiture of $14bn in
illicit proceeds.
Some in Mexico expressed skepticism with the prospect of “El
Chapo” indirectly paying for a border barrier as the size of his fortune is
pure speculation and presents the problem of “how to seize it” for the authorities,
said Esteban Illades, a magazine editor in Mexico City.
There’s also the irony, he said, of “funding the wall with a
law named after a man who can tunnel through anything”.
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