The policies of the United States administration have consequences in the fight against illegal fishing in Mexico, experts say.
At the close of President Joe Biden's administration, the United States government evidenced the incursion of drug trafficking into Mexican fisheries.
On November 26, the Treasury Department reported five members of the Gulf cartel to the Office of Foreign Assets Control. This mechanism, among other things, interrupts links between members of crime and companies. It implies that any account or property of the persons mentioned are blocked, as well as any company that they own or hold more than 50% of the shares.
In addition to the media effect, President Donald Trump's recent declaration of cartels as terrorists seeks to break ties between actors and crime, says security expert Vidal Fernando Romero, who is a professor in the Political Science Department of the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM).
“In more substantive terms, what it does is create as one more tool for the American government to deal with certain actors in Mexico that may be related to cartels... So that's where Mexican companies that may have been involved in business with the cartels come in. Politicians who may have been involved with posters,” he said.
However, the main reason for Trump's measure is “propaganda”, since it gives the United States government more tools to demand Mexico in accordance with its interests, Romero said.
“It's the most public opinion part and that's to show that now it's more serious than last time. This is already an additional step in this war against the cartels,” he said. Although organized crime has diversified, Trump is focusing on his speeches about fentanyl because that's what his voters expect, Romero said.
The stir over the declaration of terrorism has even raised speculations of a possible military intervention or operation. However, this measure by the Trump administration has no extraterritorial implications, said Professor Guadalupe Cabrera-Correa of George Mason University in Virginia.
“Obviously, the definition has no extraterritorial effects, but what it does have are effects to supposedly dismantle networks by focusing on the economic. In the material. And it's important because the United States can freeze accounts and it can also go after the economic side of the groups or people who support these organizations that are now terrorists. Then visas are canceled, obviously it goes against money. However, an investigation has to be done to see how this money laundering is done, for example, who does it and to which cartel because there are specifically some groups that were chosen,” said the expert in transnational security.
This is relevant in the fishing sector, since the Department of the Treasury has linked poaching as part of an illegal funding scheme.
“(Criminal organizations) rely on a variety of illegal schemes such as IUU fishing (illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing) to finance their operations, along with drug trafficking and human trafficking,” said the Acting Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Bradley T. Smith, on November 26.
This Department is part of an intergovernmental working group against illegal fishing established by the SAFE Act (for its acronym in English), which is the main coordinating mechanism against poaching in that country.
The fight and demands in the area of illegal fishing have been increasingly public on both sides of the border. Arguing that illegal fishing in Mexico puts fishermen in the Southern United States at a disadvantage, a bill signed by four senators called on January 28 for the development of a standard to identify the country of origin of huachinango and certain species of tuna that enter the United States.
The incursion of products that have been illegally fished into the United States was estimated in a 2021 report by the United States International Trade Commission, where Mexico leads illegal exports to the United States, with 25% of the total value.
Skepticism
It is difficult to foresee what kind of implications the Trump administration's new measures may have in Mexico, while there is skepticism about what the declaration of the cartels as terrorist groups implies for the United States' own companies.
“Historically, what we know is that the place where the cartels launder the most money is the United States. And then the American government is hardly going to get into that thoroughly. In other words, there are good reasons why, although we all agree that we have to hit the money (the cartels), it has never been done in a real way,” Romero said.
As for specific sanctions against illegal fishing, there are few cases announced by official US media. In December 2023, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) imposed three fines totaling $734,000 on companies in the United States for illegally importing shrimp from the Upper Gulf of Mexico.
On the other hand, when talking about tools in Mexico to combat money laundering, names such as the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Ministry of Finance come up. For Romero, his conformation is not ideal for attacking this scourge.
“Money laundering issues go far beyond the formal part, there is a lot of informal laundering, I would say that the vast majority is in the informal part. And that doesn't reach the Treasury, by definition because it's not something registered,” Romero said.
“If you compare, for example, what the Financial Intelligence Unit does with other countries in the world, Mexico is almost the only country that has that unit within the Executive. That is, in the Ministry of Finance. In all other countries, that unit is in the public prosecutor's office,” Romero said.
The ITAM expert indicated that units have been created to combat money laundering within prosecutor's offices but they have not had the necessary support.
This year, the FIU has 163 million pesos; the Special Prosecutor's Office for Investigating Fiscal Crimes 46 million; and the Special Prosecutor's Office for Investigating Operations with Illicit Resources 60 million. The amounts represent, respectively, falls of 19.7%, 0.5% and 0.3% compared to the 2024 budget.
USAID Cuts
On another front, the Trump administration's cuts to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have implications for the work being done on Mexico's fishing shores.
“Some of these funds financed actions through different non-governmental organizations and, occasionally, support for foreign governments, including the Mexican one, to take action on measures against illegal fishing,” said lawyer Rigoberto García Soto, an expert in inspection and surveillance issues.
On March 28, the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, notified Congress of his intention to dismantle USAID before July 1. With 10,000 employees around the world, the agency is expected to keep 15 for September, according to an email declassified by the New York Times.
With regard to funds in Mexico, media and non-governmental organizations from different sectors, not only environmental, have expressed staff cuts and cessation of operations due to the freezing of these funds.
“The cancellation of these funds from USAID programs, where the initiatives to which these resources can be allocated have been terribly restricted, will be reflected in Mexico and in the world in measures that were already being implemented by government entities in coordination with non-governmental organizations to address this type of issue,” said the lawyer.
By March 10, 83% of USAID programs had been completed, leaving a hole of 60 billion dollars, according to the European Parliament think tank.
García Soto recalled that these funds given many times to civil organizations have served in practical terms the government's operation of fisheries inspection and surveillance.
“When these USAID aid funds will no longer be available to NGOs, it will not only be reflected in what NGOs do or don't do, but they will be reflected in concrete law enforcement measures that countries do through their domestic authorities, which are no longer going to be done,” he said.
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