2023-08-08 22:44:27
Despite the repeated refusals of the Mexican president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obradorthe head of the anti-drug office of the US Department of State maintains that “fentanyl yes it is made in mexico” and that bilateral cooperation to stop their trafficking is “very good” but still it can be better.
“Everything we have seen shows that, in fact, fentanyl is being manufactured in Mexico and we know that its precursors chemicals come from china“, he claimed Todd RobinsonAssistant Secretary for International Narcotics Affairs, in an interview with EFE.
“Myself I have traveled to Mexico and i’ve seen what i know factory thereboth of methamphetamines as fentanyl. And we are working so hard how can we with our partners in Mexico to stop the trafficking of said substances,” he added.
THE FENTANYL CRISIS
Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid fifty times stronger than morphine and the cause of the worst drug crisis in the history of USAwhere last year more than 70 thousand people due to an overdose of this substance.
According to the Government of Joe Bidenthe Mexican cartels of Sinaloa y Jalisco New Generation produce the fentanyl in clandestine laboratories through chemical products and cosmetics that acquire legally from china and then trafficked and distributed on US soil.
But Lopez Obrador has repeatedly denied that fentanyl is produced in his country, arguing that the drug comes directly from China a USA and that only a small part passes through Mexico.
Todd Robinson, the United States’ anti-drug chief, claims that the fentanyl that reaches the country is manufactured in Mexico. (Free Press Photo: EFE/ Octavio Guzmán)
Despite these differences, Todd Robinson He said that the cooperation “is very good” both at a technical and political level, and gave the example of the letter that Lopez Obrador He sent his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in April, asking for his “support” in the fight against fentanyl, a gesture that Washington considers “very positive.”
“So I would say that our cooperation is good. It may be better? It can always be better, but we are very happy to being able to work with our Mexican colleagues“, he expressed.
According to the diplomat, the Government of Biden wants “Mexico to do more to go after drug traffickers,” but also admits its “responsibility” to curb the demand for drugs in the United States and dismantle drug trafficking networks within its territory.
“When I go to bed at night, I think about how to defeat drug dealers, and I think the same when I wake up in the morningRobinson revealed.
LITTLE COOPERATION WITH CHINA
Cooperation with China, on the other hand, is more complicated since beijing has ruled out participating in the global coalition against fentanyl launched in July by the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinktogether with more than 70 countries, Mexico among them.
Robinson believes that China “can do a better job” exchanging information about the chemicals it distributes, ensuring a correct labeling of these products and monitoring who buys them.
The diplomat recalled that in 2019 China did cooperate in the control of these exports, so that the fentanyl traffic decreased. “Now none of this is happening and the chemicals are flowing all over the world,” she lamented.
COCA MONITORING IN COLOMBIA WILL BE RESUMED
The anti-narcotics chief also defended that the fight against fentanyl should not distract from other drugs that are also “a problemlike cocaine.
“It would be wrong to say that cocaine is no longer a problem. it is in USA and in Europaand a growing problem in Asia,” he warned.
The United States left this year monitor satellite the extension of cultivated fields of coke in Colombiaa metric used by Washington for years to evaluate the results of anti-drug policy.
But Robinson said that it is about a break “temporal” and that it is expected to be resumed next year, in addition to the fact that the State Department continues to monitor the coca fields through the report published each year by the HIM about.
The diplomat explained that what the Colombian president, Gustavo Petrohave asked USA in its new comprehensive approach against drugs is to guarantee the safety of rural communities and punish the environmental crimes of drug traffickers.
“We are more than happy to work with him in all those areas. And we believe we have great partners in Colombia“, he sentenced.
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