Meeting Up

Marcelo Ebrard will speak with Felipe Calderón's security team today to discuss steps toward a security agreement at the meeting of the National Security Council. Certainly, Mexico is in need of a long-term security framework that will be somewhat removed from the political realm. I would feel more optimistic about today's meeting being a step in that direction if the event didn't seem so forced. Calderón and Ebrard have for years now been more likely to take shots at each other on security policy than to collaborate, and it's hard to see them overcoming that fraught personal history. It also seems unlikely that there would even be a meeting today if Calderón and Ebrard hadn't been shamed into it. In short, one wonders if the political will to address the issue really exists, or if this today is mostly for show. Today's meeting will result in a handful of sensible points of agreement, but will they be cosmetic changes (like a plan for a special kidnapper's prison) or thorough reforms?