President Obama in Guadalajara
President Obama in Guadalajara, Mexico
Yesterday and today President Obama had a North American Summit with Filipe Calderone, President of Mexico, and Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada.
Many things were on the agenda for the summit including money, drugs, H1N1, climate change and the new mandatory visas for Mexicans visiting Canada.
There has been a spike in violence and over 11,000 have been killed in Mexico due to drug related activities. The US has been more than willing to share the blame for this drug violence as the US provides the necessary market for these drugs and also has supplied approximately 95% of the guns used by the Mexican Drug Cartels. President Obama is reluctant to supply more support until he is assured that the Mexican police, military and government officials are committed to fight to make the Mexican people safe and secure in their own country.
There was talk of the continent coming together with mutual respect, bonding, and all parties are committed to reducing 80% of emissions by 2050.
Prime Minister Harper said that for the moment the mandatory visa requirement would stand citing the bogus refugee claims being unfair to legitimate refugees. He also said that the Canadian immigration laws were too weak which gave rise to this situation which is very unpopular in Mexico.
President Calderone said that he is willing to cooperate with Prime Minister Harper in getting to the root of the abuse and eliminating it so that their two countries could continue their excellent relationship.
Health and immigration reform were also discussed and questions were taken on both these subjects during the three person press conference today in Guadalajara. Obama did stress that immigration reform was in the best interest of the US. President Obama says that before the end of the year there will be a draft legislation on immigration reform.
All men seemed fully committed to working with each other to solve their mutual challenges and support each other however they can.
The summit was considered my most to be a successful exchange of ideas and a positive step forward in continuous and harmonious relations between the three countries.