Obama stops short of criticising Mexico

I’m pretty sure Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto is the only visitor to DC on Tuesday that didn’t get stuck in horrible traffic.

There was a snow storm during the morning commute, and most people spent hours in their cars on trips that usually take minutes.

It was a frustrating drive, but it turned into a beautiful setting for a meeting.

The White House driveway was plowed down to clear pavement I know this because moments before his motorcade rolled through the plow truck smashed the waiting reporters with a boat load of snow. There are worse things that could happen, it was actually kind of funny.

This was the Mexican President’s first official visit since taking office and, as expected, President Barack Obama spent a good deal of time talking about the closeness of the relationship between the two countries.

The biggest question was would President Obama talk about the human rights abuses that are driving huge protests in Mexico?

He did talk about the missing students, expressed sympathy, but was careful not to criticise the Mexican President for what he hasn’t done, instead choosing to focus on the reforms he’s promised to put in place.

There was an average size protest outside of the White House, about 100 people holding up the pictures of the missing and signs I couldn’t read. One protestor told Al Jazeera she was there because the Mexican government needs to feel the pressure, and “Mexicans can’t do it alone”.

Human Rights organisations had been calling for President Obama to enforce the agreement that has been in place since 2008 and has promised Mexico more than $2bn to improve security and governance.

They want him to say not enough is being done to protect Human Rights, so some of the money would be put on hold. President Obama didn’t say that, President Pena Nieto did talk about the agreement thanking the President for “offering to continue these very efficient actions… to fight insecurity and especially organised crime.”