Good morning, and welcome to the Global Situation Report for Tuesday, 30 April 2024.
- AMLO ADMITS CRIMINAL GROUPS EXPANDING IN MEXICO: Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) admitted yesterday that criminal groups are expanding in Mexico. As a result, he announced the deployment of additional troops to the states of Tabasco and Quintana Roo.
- AMLO maintained that his “hugs, not bullets” strategy is addressing the root causes of violence by reducing poverty.
Why It Matters: Quintana Roo is home to popular tourist destinations Cancún and Cozumel, which have been somewhat “off limits” for cartel violence due to the lucrative drug trade. Cartels didn’t want to disrupt the cash flow of selling drugs to tourists. As such, the expansion of gang violence into Cozumel may be self-correcting. Meanwhile, the deployment of National Guard troops to QR and Tabasco could be part of a broader strategy to secure key economic areas not only for tourism but for industrialization and reshoring of manufacturing. AMLO and Biden didn’t provide details of their recent border security deal, but AMLO has previously requested large sums of money for economic aid and infrastructure development. And presidential candidate Sheinbaum previously proposed building factories in Mexico’s southern states. – M.S.
- Global Rollup
- A Mexican journalist accused Mexico’s government of infiltrating the presidential campaign of Xóchitl Gálvez, the opposition candidate to the ruling Morena Party. The journalist also claimed that Mexico’s security services were intercepting the communications of more than 20 other candidates. (AC: Plausible, if not likely. – M.S.)
- The United States Navy successfully tested the Virtualized AEGIS (V-AEGIS) Combat System to intercept an in-flight missile. (This effectively gives V-AEGIS initial operational capability, allowing the Navy to rapidly deploy an AEGIS combat suite, including missiles, to non-native platforms. This means a potentially much faster surface combatant rollout. – J.V.)
- The majority leader of Taiwan’s legislature is in China, leading a delegation with the president of the Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises on the mainland to promote Cross-Strait relations.
- The Chinese Coast Guard attacked the Philippine Coast Guard with water cannons near Scarborough Shoal. The Chinese Foreign Ministry condemned the Philippines for sending boats through the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone.
- India was caught extensively spying on Australia in 2020, according to a new interview with the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation’s Director General Mike Burgess. The Indians had spies in the foreign ministry and defense sector, and were exploiting their diaspora’s connections.
THAT’S A WRAP: This does it for today’s edition. Thank you for reading. If you know folks who would also like to receive this email, would you please forward it to them? We appreciate you spreading the word. – M.S.