Velasco Meets With Marco Rubio in Washington; They Address Issues Focused on Migration and Fentanyl

ByArturo Sánchez Jiménez

This article by Arturo Sánchez Jiménez originally appeared in the August 26, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left-wing daily newspaper.

Washington. Foreign Secretary Roberto Velasco met on the morning of this Wednesday in Washington with United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

After the meeting, Rubio posted on the social network X: “Met with Mexican Foreign Secretary @r_velascoa to discuss decisive actions to end illegal immigration, halt fentanyl trafficking, and dismantle Foreign Terrorist Organizations and cartels.”

According to a statement from the Secretariat of Foreign Relations (SRE), in the meeting both secretaries highlighted the progress on security in the region, particularly in combating the trafficking of drugs and weapons and transnational organized crime.

Velasco reiterated, according to the department, the importance of continuing bilateral collaboration based on respect for sovereignty, shared responsibility, mutual trust, and collaboration without subordination.

The foreign ministry also specified that the two officials addressed the progress on irregular migration and continued the dialogue on the protection of the human rights of Mexican people during migratory processes in the United States.

Velasco had announced the meeting on Tuesday, also through X, where he wrote that, “after two very productive days in Seoul,” he was landing in Washington to hold “various meetings on priority issues of the bilateral agenda,” beginning with his meeting with the Secretary of State.

Velasco-Rubio Meeting Occurs Amid Bilateral Tension Over Handover of Officials and Tariff Negotiation

The meeting between the two foreign ministers occurs at a time when the US government is asking Mexico to hand over 10 officials and former officials flagged by United States justice for alleged ties to the Los Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel, among them the governor of Sinaloa on leave, Rubén Rocha Moya.

The meeting also coincides with the visit to Washington of Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard, who is negotiating with the US administration an agreement to avoid the imposition of more tariffs on Mexican products. President Claudia Sheinbaum expressed on Monday her optimism that this agreement could be reached this very week.

Velasco was accompanied at the meeting by:

  • Ambassador Roberto Lazzeri Montaño
  • The Undersecretary for North America, Cristina Planter Riebeling
  • The head of the Unit for the Projection of Diplomacy, Foreign Policy, and Interinstitutional Organization, Efraín Guadarrama Pérez
  • The chief of staff to Ambassador Lazzeri, Carlos Botello
  • The director general of Special Affairs and Border Modernization, Oliver Arroyo Ramón
  • The head of Border and Special Affairs, Rafael Saucedo Fuentes