Press Releases
Press Releases and Official Statements
Embassy Resumes Consular Services REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AT CINCO DE MAYO EVENT U.S. Government Delivers Further 1 Million Dollars in Equipment to Support Mexico’s Efforts to Contain the Spread of H1N1 Influenza U.S. Government Announces 5 Million Dollars to Support Mexico’s Efforts to Contain the Spread of H1N1 Influenza Embassy Takes Precautionary Measures President Obama Designates Three Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations Under the Kingpin Act House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer Leads U.S. Congressional Delegation to Mexico Remarks of President Barack Obama—As prepared for delivery Mexican Law Enforcement Captures Vicente Carrillo Leyva of the Juarez Cartel Secretary Clinton Cuts Visa Pavilion Ribbon at U.S. Embassy in Mexico Readout on the President’s Meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Secretary Clinton Travel to Mexico - Statement by GORDON DUGUID, Acting DEPUTY Spokesman Former Border Patrol Officials Extradited to U.S. Approved Budget Continues Counter-Drug Cooperation with Mexico Admiral Mullen Visits Mexico on Regional Tour Op-Ed by Chargé d'affaires Leslie Bassett published in Spanish by Mexican newsgroup "Reforma" Embassy Launches Blog for Mission Mexico U.S. Fulbright-García Robles Grantees Come Together in Mexico U.S. Committed to Promoting Breast Cancer Awareness: Leslie Bassett Mexico Extradites Former Leader of Sonora Cartel U.S. “Operation Xcellerator” Cracks Down on Sinaloa Cartel Leslie Bassett Addresses Border Trade Alliance State Department Issues Updated Travel Alert Merida Initiative Brings Members of U.S. Congress to Mexico Nita Lowey Leads Congressional Delegation to Mexico Bilateral Meeting on Merida Initiative Ambassador Garza Visits Tamaulipas Merida Initiative Funds Flowing: $99 million allocated to Mexico through the Defense Security Cooperation Agency Close U.S. - Mexico Coordination on Disaster Response Mexico Well Prepared for Economic Challenges
Mexico City, May 7, 2009 – Mexico and the United States continue to cooperate closely to mitigate the outbreak of 2009-H1N1 influenza. As restrictions on public gatherings in Mexico have eased, the Embassy is moving to resume normal operations. (complete text)
Mexico City, May 4, 2009. - "Bienvenidos. Welcome to Cinco de Cuatro -- (laughter) -- Cinco de Mayo at the White House. We are a day early, but we always like to get a head start here at the Obama White House."(complete text)
Mexico City, May 3, 2009. - The 100,000 Personal Protective Equipment kits (PPEs), donated by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), include items such as coveralls, respirator masks and goggles that allow first responders effectively to help others without risking their own personal safety.(complete text)
Mexico City, April 29, 2009. - The government of the United States is providing 5 million dollars to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to support Mexico’s efforts to contain the spread of the H1N1 Influenza in Mexico. (complete text)
Mexico City, April 25, 2009 – The Embassy in Mexico City has decided to suspend processing of the approximately 5100 non-immigrant visa appointments scheduled Monday, April 27 through Wednesday, April 29. In addition, our services to American citizens will be limited to citizenship requests (passports and consular reports of birth abroad, or CRBA) and emergency assistance only.(complete text)
Mexico City, April 15, 2009 – Today President Obama submitted to Congress a report on three Mexican drug trafficking groups that he has determined are Significant Foreign Narcotics Traffickers appropriate for sanctions under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act. These organizations are the Sinaloa Cartel, Los Zetas, and La Familia Michoacana. (complete text)
Mexico City, April 6, 2009 – From April 3-5, Representative Steny Hoyer led a delegation of ten members of the House of Representatives in a visit to Mexico. The group met with Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora and other law enforcement officials. At the Secretariat of Public Security (SSP) operational base at Iztapalapa, in Mexico City, they received a briefing on Plataforma Mexico, and toured the Command Center, the special operations units, and the helicopter program. (complete text)
Press Conference After G-20 Summit - London, United Kingdom - April 2, 2009 - Good afternoon. Earlier today, we finished a very productive Summit that will be, I believe, a turning point in our pursuit of global economic recovery. By any measure, the London Summit was historic. It was historic because of the size and scope of the challenges we face, and because of the timeliness and magnitude of our response. (complete text)
Mexico City, April 2, 2009 – On April 2, 2009, Mexican federal law enforcement officials announced the April 1 capture in Mexico City of Vicente Carrillo Leyva, a leader of the Juarez cartel, one of Mexico’s most ruthless organized criminal gangs which controls one of the primary transportation routes for illegal drug shipments into the United States.
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Mexico City, March 26, 2009 – Yesterday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton cut the ribbon inaugurating the expanded non-immigrant visa pavilion at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. The new addition will nearly double the capacity of the embassy’s consular section to process applications from Mexicans and others who seek visas to visit the United States.
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The President had a robust and strategic meeting with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus today on the topic of immigration. The meeting lasted approximately one hour. During the meeting, the President announced that he will travel to Mexico next month to meet with President Calderon to discuss the deep and comprehensive US-Mexico relationships.
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At the invitation of Mexican Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will travel to Mexico City and Monterrey, Mexico from March 25-26. While in Mexico, Secretary Clinton will discuss a broad range of bilateral and international issues of mutual interest, including cooperation under the Merida Initiative.
Mexico City, March 12, 2009 – Today the Government of Mexico assisted the United States in holding corrupt officials accountable for their actions. Raul Villarreal and Fidel Villarreal, along with co-defendants Armando Garcia and Claudia Gonzalez, were extradited by Mexico to the United States to stand trial in the Southern District of California for federal crimes relating to alien smuggling, money laundering, corruption of public officials, and obstruction of justice.
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Mexico City, March 11, 2009 – President Obama today signed into law the 2009 Omnibus Spending Bill, which includes $300 million for Merida Initiative implementation in Mexico, as well as $105 million for its implementation in Central America, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The Merida Initiative represents a more than ten-fold increase in annual security cooperation with Mexico over 2007 levels.
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Mexico City, March 6, 2009 –The Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, arrived in Mexico last night to meet with senior Mexican leaders. His agenda included discussions with Secretary of Defense General Guillermo Galvan and also with Secretary of the Navy Admiral Mariano Francisco Saynez. Mullen said it was vital to further strengthen America's bilateral relationship with Mexico. (complete text)
The Obama Administration has been in office for six weeks, and it seems that almost daily a new Administration voice offers a view on our wide-ranging bilateral relationship. It is no secret that the U.S. and Mexico have a mature, profound relationship that spans many issues on which we agree, and a range of others on which we continue a dialogue. Then President-elect Obama sent the world, as well as his cabinet-in-waiting, a strong signal when, on January 13, 2009, he held his one and only pre-inaugural meeting with a foreign leader -- Mexican President Felipe Calderon. (complete text)
Mexico City, February 27, 2009 – Today the U.S. Embassy in Mexico launched a blog page directed to the Mexican people. The blog will offer a panoramic view of the day-to-day work of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, our consulates in Monterrey, Guadalajara, Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana, Hermosillo, Matamoros, Nuevo Laredo, Nogales and Merida; as well as our 14 consular agencies across Mexico. The new blog is an interactive site, and we look forward to having a dialogue with the people of Mexico.
Please go to: mexico.usembassy.gov/blog to visit the Mission Mexico blog.
Mexico City, February 26, 2009 – Today 65 U.S. students and professors who are in Mexico under the Fulbright-Garcia Robles program came together for their mid-term meetings in Mexico City to present the advances of their projects. They are in the midst of the 2008-2009 academic year at host universities located throughout Mexico, including Oaxaca, Veracruz, Jalisco, Yucatan, Sonora, and Mexico City. Their projects range from nanotechnology, to education, and management of tree fruit crops. (complete text)
Mexico City, February 26, 2009 ― “The United States is committed to women’s health, and in the last year, we have undertaken a number of projects to raise awareness of breast cancer – most of them in cooperation with Mexican institutions,” said Leslie Bassett, Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico, today at a ceremony in which grants were awarded to Mexican organizations that participated in programs to raise awareness about breast cancer. (complete text)
Mexico City, February 25, 2009 – Today the Government of Mexico extradited Miguel Caro Quintero, alleged former leader of the Sonora cartel responsible for the importation to the United States and distribution of multi-ton quantities of marijuana during the 1980s and 1990s. (complete text)
Mexico City, February 25, 2009 – Today the U.S. Department of Justice announced the arrests of 52 individuals, bringing the total to 755 members and associates of the Sinaloa Cartel arrested across the U.S. during a multi-agency law enforcement investigation known as “Operation Xcellerator.” (complete text)
Mexico City, February 24, 2009 – “I am optimistic that this time of trial, both in terms of economic and security challenges, will end in stronger trade ties, deeper security cooperation, and safer, more prosperous communities in both Mexico and the United States,” said Leslie Bassett, Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico, when she addressed the Border Trade Alliance meeting in Mexico City today.(complete text)
Mexico City, February 20, 2009 - While millions of U.S. citizens safely visit Mexico each year, drug cartel-related violence in the country has increased recently. To reflect this, the State Department Travel Alert for Mexico has been updated with more specific information on concerns in the border area.(complete text)
Mexico City, February 18, 2009 - From February 16 to 18, New York Congressman Eliot Engel, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, led a bipartisan congressional delegation to look at Merida Initiative implementation in Mexico. The delegation also met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and members of Mexico’s congress. (complete text)
Mexico City, February 16, 2009 – Representative Nita Lowey (D-NY), Chairwoman of the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, and a delegation that included five other members of the U.S. House of Representatives, including Representative Kay Granger, Representative Adam Schiff, Representative Ben Chandler, Representative Ander Crenshaw and Representative Marion Berry, just completed a visit to Mexico City, the first stop on a Congressional oversight trip. This was the first U.S. Congressional delegation to come to Mexico this year. (complete text)
Mexico City, February 5, 2009 - On February 3, Mexican Under Secretary for North American Affairs Ambassador Carlos Rico hosted a U.S. interagency delegation, led by U.S. Embassy Chargé d’affaires Leslie Bassett and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the State Department’s bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement William McGlynn, for working level discussions on the full range of projects being jointly undertaken under the Merida Initiative.
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Mexico City, January 14, 2009 - “During my visit to Tamaulipas today, Matamoros Consul General Cecilia Elizondo Herrera, Nuevo Laredo Consul General David Stone, and I met with Eugenio Hernández Flores, the Governor of Tamaulipas, and other local leaders and educators."
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Mexico City, January 7, 2009 - “As we begin a new year, I am gratified at how far the United States and Mexico have come in realizing a deeper, more meaningful partnership. A major factor in that partnership over the next few years will be the implementation of programs under the Merida Initiative."
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Mexico City, January 7, 2009 - “As friends and neighbors the United States and Mexico have always lent one another a helping hand when natural disasters strike. In that spirit of cooperation today we delivered 108,000 protective suits to the Coordinator of Civil Protection at the Secretariat of Governance, Laura Gurza Jaidar." (complete text)
Mexico City, January 2, 2009 - “As we start the new year, it is clear that the worldwide financial downturn has impacted every nation and the full economic consequences will likely be felt well into 2009. No doubt, the financial situation weighs heavily on both our societies, but while solutions to tight credit, reduced demand, and investment slowdowns may take many months to emerge, Mexico remains on a steady course to economic development as the world economy slowly recovers, and the United States remains a strong partner." (complete text)