Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum met her Guatemalan counterpart Bernardo Arévalo on Friday in Flores, Petén, in their first bilateral encounter since both leaders took office last year. The visit follows a brief border incident in June and was preceded by Sheinbaum’s morning press conference in Chetumal, Quintana Roo, before she flew in on a Mexican Air Force jet. After closed-door talks, the presidents announced the reactivation of the Grupo de Alto Nivel on Security and the drafting of a joint protocol for the repatriation of migrants. Both leaders said the measures aim to turn their common frontier into “a space of peace,” improve intelligence sharing and curb organised crime. Sheinbaum and Arévalo also agreed to begin feasibility studies to connect Mexico’s 1,554-km Tren Maya and the planned Interoceanic Corridor rail line with Guatemala and, eventually, Belize. Arévalo pledged that any new tracks would avoid existing nature reserves while Sheinbaum said the link would move both passengers and freight and support regional development. Later in Calakmul, Campeche, the two presidents were joined by Belize’s Prime Minister John Briceño to sign the Declaration of Calakmul, establishing the Gran Selva Maya Biocultural Corridor. The accord protects roughly 5.7 million hectares of rainforest that span the three countries, creating the second-largest tropical reserve in the Americas after the Amazon.