Pepe Merino and Huawei in Mexico’s telecommunications, Digi Mart USA News (Mexico): According to a report published by Pausa.MX, U.S. intelligence agencies are closely watching José Antonio Peña Merino, known as Pepe Merino, a minister without portfolio whom the report describes as holding more influence than most of the cabinet.
President Claudia Sheinbaum has reportedly entrusted him with designing a nationwide social control framework.
The article says Merino heads the Digital Transformation and Telecommunications Agency and has been consolidating scattered technology under the “Ecosistema Digital” initiative, which officially aims to simplify procedures and strengthen technological sovereignty. According to U.S.
officials cited by the publisher, however, the effort is instead opening Mexico’s communications platform to Huawei, which Washington regards as an arm of Chinese military intelligence.
The report states that it is unclear how much Sheinbaum knows about these arrangements. It also says former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador reportedly authorized a framework contract favoring Huawei while the agency was led by Emiliano Calderón.
The publisher notes that Merino’s reasons are unclear, though his ideological position against the United States may be one factor.
The article further claims that Merino placed Mexico within the U.S.-China trade conflict and that Sheinbaum’s doubts about traveling to Shenzhen for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ summit dissipated, with her confirming the trip and asking Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard to prepare a list of business leaders to meet. The publisher argues that economically a pivot toward China is unrealistic, since the United States is Mexico’s main export market and is integrated into North American production under the North American Free Trade Agreement.
According to the report, a U.S. official said Chinese presence in Mexico will become a bilateral problem and that Sheinbaum is making a mistake.
The publisher says Huawei has entered systems at the Finance Ministry, the tax authority SAT, customs and the Social Security Institute, and has pressed, so far unsuccessfully, to enter the Defense and Public Security secretariats. The article also describes earlier arrangements involving Altan, Nokia and Huawei network operations, and says access to contracts has become nearly impossible following the disappearance of the National Institute for Transparency, Access to Information and Personal Data Protection.
The publisher cites a U.S. source saying the Chinese want control of all telecommunications and data centers, and states that Washington considers Huawei’s role a national security issue.
The report has not been independently verified by Digi Mart USA News, and its claims are presented as attributed to the publisher and to unnamed U.S. officials.
