VOXXI's Tony Castro Asks: 'Can Mexico Be Saved After the 3 Amigos Summit' Tony Castro - VOXXI
go to original February 22, 2014

Obama's arrival in Mexico fuels clashes between police and protesters (RuptlyTV/bigangus)

Was President Barack’s Obama’s visit too little too late to salvage Mexico for anyone but the country’s aristocracy in hiding behind fortified walls or in exile, and the drug cartels who seem to rule the country in all but official capacity?

That question was inevitably in the shadows of Obama’s whirlwind visit to Mexico Wednesday - where sweeping trade talks were the agenda but where violence and an ongoing war between cartels and vigilante groups threaten that country’s stability.

Mexican businessmen are saying the instability in the state of Michoacán serves as a reminder of how the nation’s security shortcomings continue to steal the thunder of the nation’s economic promise.

In the neighboring state of Guerrero, quasi-military civilian self-defense groups have replaced official authorities in protecting residents, with the Mexican government last month effectively legalizing the self-defense movement through an agreement with group leaders.

“We have no trust in state or local authorities,” says lime farmer Jesús Reyes, who supports the self-defense groups that took control of the area from the Knights Templar cartel.

Back in the industrial city of Toluca, where Obama was meeting with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, locals on Wednesday were openly protesting against energy reform just blocks away from summit.

On the 20th anniversary of the historic North American Free Trade Agreement, the unrest and violence are a microcosm of the challenges faced by Mexico as Peña Nieto tries to promote a new image for a country beset by lawlessness and a great disparity between its rich and poor.

Read the rest at VOXXI

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