CELAC: MEXICAN FOREIGN POLICY INTEREST ON LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN REGIONALISM

La Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños (CELAC) was initiated in 2011 as a forum for dialogue and consensus between Latin American and Caribbean governments where it forms a trading block that excludes the United States and Canada. The US objected to the establishment of CELAC which seemed to challenges the former regional organization (OAS). This paper aims to analyze the considerations of the Mexican government to join CELAC in the midst of mutual agreement with US and NAFTA. Theory of formulation of foreign policy is used to answer the sources of political consideration of the Mexican government. It is a qualitative descriptive research that used primary data comes from Mexican government reports, content of CELAC official website, and journals. Data is obtained from library research. The analysis technique is carried out through generalization of the evidence and organization of the data so that it presents a coherent and consistent picture in proving the basic assumptions of the theory. It examines determinant of Mexico foreign policy formulation include 1) expansion of FTA in order to raise national economy, 2) maintaining the legitimacy of the government through multilateral cooperation, 3) identity politics as a Latin American, 4) increasing state performance in dealing with eradication of drugs and immigrant problems, 5) state economic revival post 2008 global crisis, 6) CELAC as a bridge to expand bi-regional trade with the European Union, and 7) forum to balance US dominant interest in the region.


INTRODUCTION
This research focuses on the joining of Mexico in Latin American and Caribbean countries regional cooperation known as La Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños (CELAC). Based on the spirit of its founding, CELAC is the successor and replacement of the Latin American and Caribbean countries' summit namely The Latin American and Caribbean Summit on Integration and Development (CALC) and Rio Group. CELAC was formed with the aim of bringing together the 21st Rio Group Summit and the 2nd CALC Summit on February 23, 2010 at Mayan Riviera, Mexico (Fuentes, 2011;NTI, 2017;O'Boyle, 2015).
On December 3rd, 2011, leaders from 33 Latin American and Caribbean countries met in Caracas to formalize the new regional bloc excluding the United States and Canada. The host of the summit, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, was very critical of The Organization of American States (OAS) and the dominance of the United States in the OAS. The other CELAC leaders believed that CELAC should not replace the OAS. CELAC was formed to be a forum for regional discussion and cooperation. Attendees at the summit expressed their concerns regarding the economic crisis, drug trafficking and climate change. In addition, they agreed to oppose the US trade embargo on Cuba (CELAC, 2018;Kennedy & Beaton, 2016;Portales, 2012b).
CELAC was initiated as a forum for intergovernmental dialogue and consensus that emerged as a commitment to enhance regional integration that referred to the political, economic, social and cultural interests of Latin American and Caribbean countries. Discussions at the CELAC forum emphasized the government's efforts to address global problems which include issues of social development, education, nuclear disarmament, local agriculture, culture, finance, energy and the environment. In addition, CELAC is expected to be a regional institution that represents the common interests of Latin American and Caribbean countries in the discussion of global issues and becomes a forum that is able to project the interests of Latin American and Caribbean countries to the international community (CELAC, 2011(CELAC, , 2018Gurria, 2017;Lopes Jr., 2015;Ruano, 2017;Segovia, 2013) .
The Mexican government is very confident in alliances with Latin American and Caribbean countries. Whilst, the United States seemed to object to the formation of CELAC which excluded Western countries and seemed to rival the existing OAS.
As President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon declared: "We have decided, for the first time to form the Community of Latin American and Caribbean as comprises all regional states space." Calderon said: "We cannot remain disunited; We cannot succeed in the future based on our differences; Now it's up to us to unite undiscounted things that make us different to unite on the basis of our similarities far outweigh our differences (CELAC, 2011).
CELAC excludes the US and Canada despite the fact that in some of the security and political agenda Mexico still relies on US and Canada's assistance (Kusumaningrum, 2018;Morris, 2013;OAS, 2015OAS, , 2017cOAS, , 2017aOAS, , 2017bSpeck, 2013;UNODC, 2007UNODC, , 2012aUNODC, , 2012b. Furthermore, Mexico has been bound by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the US and Canada since 1994. The economic liberalization program agreed upon in NAFTA encouraged the development of investment flows (FDI) to Mexico and increased the number of jobs in the industrial sector. The US government is the biggest trading partner for Mexico. About 80% of Mexico's exports go to the US market, and around 47% of Mexico's imports are supplied by the US (Campos-Vázquez, 2013;Escobar Gamboa, 2013;Esquivel & Rodrıǵuez-López, 2003;Hanson, 2003;Ibarra-Yunez, 2003;Moreno-Brid, Santamaría, & Rivas Valdivia, 2005;Ramirez, 2003Ramirez, , 2006Spreen, 2000;Villanueva, 2017;Villarreal, 2017;Waldkirch, 2010) Based on the background above, the objective of this paper is to analyze the sources of foreign policy consideration of Mexican government joining the CELAC regional cooperation amid a fairly strategic bilateral relationship with the United States. The research is expected to contribute to the reference to International Relations studies relating to the theory and analysis of foreign policy especially those interested in the American politics and regionalism.

Determinants of Foreign Policy Formulation
The making of a state's foreign policy can be influenced by 3 (three) levels of analysis refers to the influence of the international environment/international system, domestic structure, and individual perceptions of policy makers (Kegley & Wittkopf, 1999: 45). The international system means the external conditions related to certain condition such as civil war and interdependence on international exchange. Meanwhile, the domestic structure emphasizes on political system consist of the type of government and consideration of public opinion. Perceptions of policy makers are recognized as the role of leaders in realizing national interests. It is influenced by their intersubjective ideas and beliefs (Baylis & Smith, 2001;KJ Holsti, 1983;OR Holsti & Holsti, 1985;Kegley Jr. & Wittkopf, 1999;Thi & Nguyen, 2014). This paper applies the analytical framework of Legg & Morrison (1991: 59-68) in his work "The Formulation of foreign policy objectives" which explains the rationality of formulating the objectives of a state's foreign policy. According to Legg and Morrison the formulation of foreign policy objectives can be identified based on internal and external factors of a state. The government has to pay attention on those identification so that foreign policy decisions are in accordance with the state's objectives. By identifying internal and external factors, a state can determine the limits of the national capacities that can be maximized in order to achieve state's objectives through exercising good and orderly foreign policy.
Based on Chart 1.1. internal factors are considered as determinants include economic needs, political needs, state image, and state capability. Whereas external factors are involving the opportunities and challenges of international trade system, the momentum of war/economic crisis, and global agendas that are able to increase the prestige or image of the country (Legg & Morrison, 1991 Based on the analysis framework, this study believes the government of Mexico develops cooperation with Latin American and Caribbean countries is influenced by several determinants come from internal and external factors. Determinants originating from internal factors include : 1) the importance of expanding Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in order to improve the Mexican economy, 2) the effort to maintain the legitimacy of the government through multilateral cooperation, 3) the urgency to strengthened identity politics as a Latin American nation, and 4) increasing national capability in dealing with eradication of drug trafficking and immigrant problems.
Furthermore, external factors determinants are including: 1) restructuring state economy post 2008 global crisis, 2) opportunities for expansion of bi-regional trade with the European Union, and 3) an effort to balance US dominance in the region.

RESEARCH METHOD
This paper is a descriptive qualitative research that focuses on the study of American regionalism. The foreign policy of Mexican government become a member of CELAC is an unit of analysis of this research. Primary data are obtained from content analysis of Mexican government reports, publication of CELAC official website, and research dissemination from any journals that refer to Mexican policy, the framework of Latin American cooperation, the policy of Caribbean countries and the United States interests.
It used an analytical technique consisting of the framework introduced by Miles and Huberman (1994) which described the stages of the qualitative data analysis process consist of data reduction, data presentation and drawing conclusions and verification (Berkowitz, 1997). Thus, the analysis technique is carried out by gathering data in the form of words and letters taken from documents and transcripts of Mexican government report, CELAC official website, and research publications. Data analysis is conducted by extracting themes or generalizations from evidence and organizing data to present a coherent and consistent picture to prove the basic assumptions of the theoretical foundation.

DISCUSSION
Based on this framework, this paper believes that the purpose of Mexico's foreign policy formulation joining CELAC is influenced by rationality originating from internal factors, including: 1) Mexico's need to develop domestic economic potential through expanding free trade agreements; 2) Political needs in order to maintain the legitimacy of the Mexican government; 3) The need for Mexican identity politics as part of the Latin American nation; 4) The needs of the Mexican government to build state capability in overcoming domestic problems, especially drug trafficking and immigrants.
Furthermore, the implementation of Mexican foreign policy is also influenced by considerations originating from external factors, including: 1) The momentum of the 2008 economic crisis that has an impact on countries in the American region ; 2) Better trade opportunities with CELAC inter-regional partners, one of which is the European Union; 3) The international momentum to increase prestige, where the Mexican government takes part of the solidarity of the Latin American nations who intend to balance the dominance of the United States in the region.
Based on the Mexican perspective as a Latin American country, the expansion of FTA commitments is a strategic step in preventing the return of the crisis. As stated in some literature, the Latin American region is economically quite fragile. Trade liberalization in this region is expected to be able to increase export-oriented industrialization capacity. But indeed not all Latin American countries support the conception of free trade. Some countries such as Venezuela, Ecuador and Argentina tend to maintain protectionist and anti-free market policies (Andreas, 1996;Rojas-Suarez, 2010;Ruano, 2017). Some strategic issues have developed as the drivers of regionalism and economic integration in the Latin American region. The entry of China and the European Union in this region, made CELAC countries think about the stability of the regional economy as a pulling factor of investment. It is along with the investment potential of Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay which focus on developing electricity hydropower and Brazil which possesses biofuel technology (Tussie, 2014).
Thus, CELAC is important multilateral cooperation for the Mexican government.
Indeed, economic interest becomes the main driving force for the formation of free trade agreements between its member countries. The Mexican government believes that the expansion of the free trade agreement is capable to overcome national economic conditions, which is expected to result in greater investor confidence, attract more foreign investment, and create jobs (Andreas, 1996;Flores et al., 2018;Neto & Malamud, 2015;Ramirez, 2006;Villanueva, 2017;Waldkirch, 2010) .

Efforts to Maintain Mexican Government's Legitimacy
The Chile-traditional Mexican allies in South America. Thus, the Mexican government tends to be pushed aside from the regional cooperation for that period, such as in UNASUR and

ALBA. Brazil calls Mexico as part of North American alliance rather than of Latin
American (Ziccardi, 2014).
As written by Ziccardi (2014), Calderon administration seeks to improve the situation by restoring the position of Mexico as part of Latin American countries solidarity since 2006. One strategic step for Mexican government is to be actively involved in regional cooperation and to initiate new multilateral arrangement namely CELAC and the Pacific Alliance which was first launched at the 2010 Cancun Summit.
The joining of Mexico with CELAC guarantees government performance due to its capacity building related to strengthening democracy, citizenship, and human rights. Based on Sanahuja's argument (2015), the commitment to democracy, human rights and the rule of law has been the initial motivation and foundation of the partnership between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean since its establishment in the 1970s. Dialogue and regional cooperation contributes in the transition and consolidation of democracy in the 1980s and 1990s in Latin America. In addition, this cooperation also supports the promotion of the two regions' identities as "normative agents" in the international arena (Sanahuja, 2015).
The development of inter-regional cooperation in the American continent has  (Hoffmann & Tabak, 2017).

Mexican Solidarity as a Latin American Nation
The initiative to form CELAC is a step taken by the Mexican government to strengthen the political power of Latin American and Caribbean countries in the international arena. As Portales (2012) (Bakewell, 1998;Bethel, 1995;Bland, 2011;Ochoa, 1996;Perry & Berry, 2016).  (Bland, 2011;Morris, 2013;Thomas, 2005).

Problems
The Second, there is administrative problem due to the increasing number of illegal immigrants in line with the increasing of opportunities for illegal document dealers. The present of illegal immigrants affect to the declining of tax revenues. This is caused by the fact that illegal immigrants are not taxed and also given low salaries by enterprises owner in the United States. Third, the social problem emerged since illegal immigrants are living in dense housing. In 2005 more than 55,000 Pennsylvania households were deemed as "crowded" or "very crowded" housing because illegal foreigners mostly work in lowpaying jobs, so they can only afford cheap housing payment. Some of families who live in apartments let their garages as bedrooms for rent (Martin, 2017).   (Hernandez et al., 2004).

Cooperation between the United States and
Finally, drug trafficking has grown to become a big cartel and at the same time, the wave of immigrants into the United States resulted by poverty problems in Mexico (Sullivan, 2019). A lack of economic growth causes limited employment in Mexico so that working as migrant workers in the US is the best possible alternative (Satria, 2014). According to data from the World Bank in 2010, the receipt of remittances from the Mexican government from immigrants is the third largest in the world (Yang, 2011).
Cases of drug smuggling and Mexican immigrants have evolved into a transnational problem that is quite complex, considering that this crime also leads to cases of gambling, human trafficking, prostitution, and smuggling of weapons that are latent in nature. Drug cartels not only expand their networks horizontally, but also try to bribe members of the government (Bureau of Public Affairs, 2016; Kusumaningrum, 2018;O'Neil, 2009;Rani & Samosir, 2015;Saraswita et al., 2014;Seelke, 2011). Thus, the Mexican government cannot only rely on cooperation in overcoming the issue of drug trafficking and immigrants only with the US government. Regional cooperation with regional partners and international partners is needed.

Impact of the 2008 Crisis on Mexico
This Remittances received from immigrants who work abroad is one of the most important indicators for state income. The decline in remittances from immigrants to their home countries is caused by rising unemployment rates of immigrants from Latin America in the US from $ 241 to $ 230. Mexico is the only country to receive debts from the IMF, but faces a risk of a decline in GDP around 7-8%, the highest in the region (Blanco, 2009;Guillén, 2011).

CELAC-EU Bi-Regional Cooperation as Mexican Opportunity
Mexico considers more profitable economic opportunities with an increase bi-regional

Multilateral cooperation forum to balance US domination
As a superpower, the United States has a big influence on Latin American countries. The United States is the biggest economic partner and contributes to funding development programs in Caribbean countries through donor agencies such as the IMF and World Bank. In some cases such as Venezuela, this partnership is seen as a form of domination.
As is known, Venezuela is having a socialist government that could possibly oppose the intervention of the United States. United States intervention in Venezuela began when George W. Bush took office in 2002 (TeleSUR, 2015) .
Referring to one of the purposes of the CELAC establishment, which is to strengthen regional organizations in overcoming the hegemony of the United States in Latin America, in line to that the phenomena that occurs in one-member country is a problem that should resolved together. Although CELAC gives the right to selfdetermination of member countries, they are committed to resolving various problems that occur in member countries. For example, the problems experienced by Venezuela are a concern in Latin America. The crisis occurred in April 2002 due to the failure of a military coup supported by the United States of America against President Hugo Chavez (Rojas, 2015) . CELAC as a regional bloc was formed to promote Latin American integration, initiated by Hugo Chavez based on the principle of unity, cooperation and solidarity between member countries and also as a manifestation of the mission of have not only succeeded through the worst international crisis in the last 80 years. but also entering a new decade with promising growth prospects and quality of life. For the first time in history, this region achieved high growth, macroeconomic stability, poverty reduction and increased income distribution (CEPAL, 2011).

CONCLUSION
Mexican foreign policy joining CELAC in the midst of US criticism is an interesting phenomenon to analyze. The study of international relations regarding the formation of regionalism has largely reviewed about the motivation for the formation of regional organizations and cooperation which are influenced by political, economic and security motivations. Even since the WTO supported regional economic integration, the development of the free trade blocs was increasingly massive after the 90s. This is influenced by negotiations at the international level which are complicated. As the Doha development agenda that surfaced in the Doha Round still leaves a dispute about agricultural subsidies. It means regional agreement would be the one of political alternative to penetrate trade liberalization and open market among member countries.
In practice, inter-regional trade negotiations are not an easy matter. The process of accommodating the interests of parties can take years, considering that each country is acknowledged as sovereign entity and pursues its national interests. Thus, the neoliberal approach in the aspect of regionalism raises a debate between market access to increase national income vs. agreement to common perspective in reducing import tariffs for regional welfare. This phenomenon turns into the complexity of the trade bloc in the American region which called as the 'noodle bowl theory'.
CELAC in this study describes the urgency of regionalism in the American region.
The establishment of CELAC as a regional institution to achieve economic interests In addition, as the member of CELAC Mexican government gets greater opportunity to expand inter-regional partnership with the European Union. In dealing with recovery situation after the economic crisis, the economic cooperation between CELAC and the European Union give mutual benefits between member countries. This bi-regional economic agreement achieved based on former trade negotiation process that had run by Central America, the South America and the Caribbean countries. Therefore, by joining CELAC Mexican government get a chance to bring prospectus collaborative framework of cooperation throughout the American region.