EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – A former president of Mexico will be the keynote speaker at the Borderplex Alliance’s 2021 U.S.-Mexico Border Summit next month.
Felipe Calderon Hinojosa will address trade issues, such as how Mexico can benefit from U.S. trade tensions with China and how attracting European investment can be pivotal for border businesses, according to the group.
The summit starts at 7:30 a.m. Nov. 4 at the Plaza Hotel Pioneer Park, 106 W. Mills Ave. in El Paso. Calderon’s noon speech is at a collections room at the Hotel Paso del Norte across the street. You can click here for details on attending the summit.
Calderon was president of Mexico from 2006-2012. His tenure was controversial: some credit him with growing the economy and promoting environmental protection and cooperation; others remember him for an aggressive drug war that backfired.
“He implemented policies that catapulted Mexico into a powerful player in the global economy. Since leaving his post, he has focused his leadership and attention on the economic benefits of acting on climate change and has positioned himself as a leading voice on this global issue,” the nonprofit, non-partisan Borderplex Alliance said.
But in an Oct. 31, 2012 article published by the Brookings Institution, former Mexican diplomat Andres Rozental torched Calderon for not making substantial structural changes to the economy and failing to rein in violence.
“Not only is the high level of deaths attributed to the war on cartels and other criminals ample proof that violence is still very much the order of the day, but the flow of drugs into the United States as well as the wave of assault rifles and other arms coming into Mexico continue relatively unabated,” Rozental wrote.
Some 63,000 people died in drug-related violence during the Calderon administration, including 1,000 Mexican soldiers and police officers, according to the Mexico City nonprofit Security, Justice and Peace.