This Wednesday, the US anti-drug agency (DEA, in English) asked Mexico to “do more” against the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), whom he blames for the thousands of deaths from fentanyl overdose in EU.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful than morphine and mixed with other drugs to enhance its effect, it is manufactured in Mexico from precursors imported from China and then trafficked to the United States.
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“We believe that Mexico has to do more to stop the damage that is being caused. These two Mexican cartels, the one in Sinaloa and the one in Jalisco, dominate the global fentanyl supply chain“, remarked the director of the DEA, Anne Milgram, in an appearance before the Senate.
Milgram criticized that Mexico does not share enough information with the United States about the seizure of fentanyl and its precursors, does not go after clandestine drug laboratories enough, or extradite enough drug traffickers.
According to the DEA, the Sinaloa Cartel operates in at least 19 of the 32 Mexican states, while the CJNG does so in 23 regions.
For this reason, Milgram urged Mexico to establish as its “highest priority” defeating both organizations, as it already did with the Zetas in its fight against that Cartel between 2012 and 2015.
“We want Mexico to do the same as then,” he said.
The director of the DEA used as an example follow the trial that is taking place in New York against the former Secretary of Security of Mexico Genaro García Lunaaccused by the United States of having collaborated with the Sinaloa Cartel.
America wants those responsible
“Something we’re looking for is for Mexico to arrest and extradite more people to the United States,” Milgram explained.
For his part, Todd Robinson, in charge of the State Department’s anti-drug office, was more conciliatory when he affirmed before the Senate this Wednesday that in the conversations he has had with the neighboring country “Mexico has expressed that it wants to do more.”
“What we have been asking Mexico is to put more resources into this effort.“, explained the diplomat.
This is a matter that the President of the United States, Joe Biden, raised with López Obrador during the North American Leaders Summit held last January in Mexico City.
According to Rahul Gupta, the White House director of drug policy, the United States is suffering “the biggest drug crisis” in history, with 107,000 deaths from overdoses last year.
“An American dies every five minutes. This is unacceptable“, he claimed.
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Mexico and the DEA have had a tense relationship since President Andrés Manuel López Obrador promoted a reform in 2020 that limited the presence of US agents in Mexican territory.
