What did Joe Biden say to AMLO about Ovidio Guzmán?

• Did Joe Biden discuss Ovidio Guzmán with AMLO?
• Andrés Manuel López Obrador reveals what he said on the subject.
• Biden is in Mexico for the North American Leaders’ Summit.

US President Joe Biden’s first trip to Mexico to participate in the North American Leaders’ Summit (NALS) began with a diplomatic decision — choosing which airport to land at. He also had a private conversation with Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) in Biden’s limousine, nicknamed «the beast». The Mexican president was asked if they had discussed the issue of Ovidio Guzmán, according to the AP and infobae.

The leaders had an hour to speak in private after Andrés Manuel López Obrador received his US counterpart at the foot of the track along with Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard and the ambassadors of both countries. Biden landed in Mexico on Sunday night at the new Felipe Ángeles airport in the Mexican capital, one of AMLO’s flagship projects that was built and managed by the military.

AMLO AND BIDEN SPOKE INSIDE ‘THE BEAST’

The airport was inaugurated last year to great fanfare, although it is more than an hour’s drive from the city center, has few flights, and, until recently, did not have consistent drinking water. The relationship between Biden and López Obrador is cordial but very formal and lacks the warmth and camaraderie that Biden has with other world leaders. The presidents shook hands and walked together down a long red carpet on the runway flanked by soldiers.

Then they got into «the beast» to cross Mexico City to the place where Biden would spend the night. That conversation was the first private and direct contact between the presidents, two politicians who need to understand each other but who have different visions and priorities.

WHAT DID THE TWO LEADERS DISCUSS?

«We speak on very good terms,» ​​said the Mexican in his morning conference. “We talked about issues that we are going to discuss in today’s meeting,” he added without hiding his fascination with «the beast», saying Biden showed him how various buttons worked.

Among the issues addressed during the journey were migration and the development and integration, not only of North America but of the entire continent, both economically and socially. «That the union between all the countries of the American continent be achieved, that we can complement each other, because it is the continent with the most potential, with the most resources,» said López Obrador. Filed Under: Joe Biden Ovidio Guzmán

DID THEY TALK ABOUT OVIDIO GUZMÁN?

According to the Mexican president, the recent arrest of Ovidio Guzmán, one of the sons of jailed drug trafficker and former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquín «El Chapo» Guzmán, was not discussed although his capture was seen by various analysts as a gift prior to Biden’s visit. AMLO considered this a «lack of respect» for the people who carried out the operation and the 10 soldiers who lost their lives.

Along with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who arrived on Monday, Biden and López Obrador will spend the next two days discussing migration, climate change, manufacturing, trade, the economy and the potential global influence of a more collaborative North America. “This meeting will deepen our coordination and further our shared priorities for North America,” Biden tweeted. Filed Under: Joe Biden Ovidio Guzmán

WHAT WILL THE US DO REGARDING THE BORDER?

Before the summit, Joe Biden announced a major change in US-Mexico border policy, but said nothing of Ovidio Guzmán. According to the agreement, which had the approval of the Mexican government, Mexico agreed to receive 30,000 Cubans, Nicaraguans, Venezuelans and Haitians returned from the United States each month and in return, each month Washington will offer temporary work visas to the same number of people of those four nationalities if they meet certain requirements, such as arriving by plane.

López Obrador insisted on the benefits of the agreement, although he has been questioned by human rights groups who allege that the changes are reminiscent of the hard line of former President Donald Trump. «If this is consolidated, it will generate hope in the people who want to leave,» López Obrador stressed. In his opinion, «it is a start» to have more orderly migration. Filed Under: Joe Biden Ovidio Guzmán