Dmitry Eleseenko

In the article we describe impact of Venezuela in US-Mexico relations, using theory of triangles in international relations. U.S.-Mexico relations have always been the major part of US politics in Latin America. During the last 20 years, their international relations were influenced by the common zone of free trade in south destination. Major changes in existing relations occurred in 2017-2019 with Donald Trump’s election, followed by Lopez Obrador’s election in Mexico. So called “Venezuela crisis” became the main issue in the US-Mexico relations agenda. When Mexico changed their foreign policy doctrine, they stopped to support US initiatives on the mentioned issue. New governments in US and Mexico had the different points of view on Venezuela crisis and it led to disagreement between them. However, from the wider perspective we can conclude that relations with Caracas has the opposite impact in the nearest past. The path from cooperation to conflict regarding Venezuela has a negative impact on all major issues on the bilateral agenda. This caused changes in approaches to solve problems in Mexico City as well as Washington. Both countries switched to separation tactics, so when discussing one issue, they try not to mention the other. This practice has made progress in reforming the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA), but also negatively affected migration and the fight against drug traffic. However we need to mention that US and Mexico haven’t succeeded to made an agreement on these serious problems for more than thirty years. The article aims to answer the question if it’s possible for US and Mexico politicians not to be influenced by emotions, or Venezuela crisis will become the starting point of the international conflict.