Mexican president claims fentanyl is US drawback, slams requires US army motion towards drug cartels

One week after two Americans had been killed and two others had been kidnapped by a drug cartel simply south of the border in Matamoros, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador stated that requires U.S. army motion towards drug trafficking organizations are “irresponsible.” 

The rebuke comes after a number of Republican lawmakers referred to as for the U.S. army to take direct motion towards the cartels. 

“This is an issue of mass poisoning of the residents of the United States and the cartels are instantly accountable,” Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, who launched a invoice earlier this yr to authorize army power towards the cartels, stated in a message to López Obrador on Wednesday. 

“My inquiries to you’re the following: Why do you reject assist from the United States? Why do you defend the cartels? They are your enemy and the United States is your good friend.”

Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gestures throughout a information convention on the National Palace in Mexico City, Mexico, June 20, 2022. (Reuters/Edgard Garrido/File Photo)

López Obrador referred to as the suggestion “an offense to the individuals of Mexico” at a press convention on Thursday, in line with Reuters. 

“We should not going to allow any overseas authorities to intervene in our territory, a lot much less {that a} authorities’s armed forces intervene,” López Obrador stated. 

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The Mexican president additionally dismissed claims that Mexican drug traffickers are answerable for the movement of fentanyl into the U.S., regardless of proof from U.S. intelligence companies and the Mexican authorities itself that the damaging opioid is trafficked by Mexican cartels. 

“Here, we don’t produce fentanyl, and we shouldn’t have consumption of fentanyl,” López Obrador stated Thursday, in line with the Associated Press. “Why don’t they (the United States) care for their drawback of social decay?”

Fentanyl is usually pressed into counterfeit drugs that resemble pharmaceuticals.  (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)

The U.S. recorded a report 106,699 drug overdose deaths in 2021, about two-thirds of which concerned fentanyl, which is 50 occasions stronger than heroin. 

The DEA stated final December that “a lot of the fentanyl trafficked by the Sinaloa and CJNG Cartels is being mass-produced at secret factories in Mexico with chemical compounds sourced largely from China.”

Fentanyl is usually pressed into counterfeit drugs which can be manufactured to resemble pharmaceuticals like OxyContin and Xanax. The DEA seized greater than double the quantity of counterfeit drugs laced with fentanyl final yr than it did in 2021. 

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López Obrador additionally prompt that he’ll subject a name for Mexicans and Hispanics within the U.S. to not vote for Republicans “as a result of they’re inhuman and interventionist.” 

Crenshaw welcomed the problem in a response on Thursday afternoon. 

“Get a grip. You must be campaigning towards the cartels who’re MURDERING your personal individuals, not the Americans who wish to assist eradicate them,” Crenshaw tweeted. 

A member of the Mexican safety forces stands subsequent to a white minivan with North Carolina plates and several other bullet holes, on the crime scene the place gunmen kidnapped 4 U.S. residents who crossed into Mexico from Texas, Friday, March 3, 2023.  (AP Photo)

The deaths of two Americans final week by the hands of a cartel within the border metropolis of Matamoros sparked new calls within the U.S. for a crackdown on cartels. The group of 4 South Carolina natives reportedly traveled there for a beauty process. Two survivors had been rescued in a wood shack earlier this week and transported again to the U.S. 

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., stated he’ll introduce laws to designate Mexican drug cartels as overseas terrorist organizations, authorizing the U.S. army to take motion towards them. 

“We’re going to unleash the fury and would possibly of the United States towards these cartels,” Graham stated at a press convention. “We’re going to destroy their enterprise mannequin and their way of life as a result of our nationwide safety and the safety of the United States as a complete relies on us taking decisive motion.”