Mexico is committed to the fight against fentanyl

MESSAGE TO MEXICAN POPULATION IN COLORADO | Pável Meléndez Cruz revealed that Mexico has seized 6.4 tons of fentanyl. (Photo/El Comercio Colorado)

THE CONSUL GENERAL OF MEXICO IN DENVER INFORMS THAT THE SECURITY CABINET OF HIS COUNTRY IS GOING TO VISIT WASHINGTON, D.C.

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The Mexican consuls in the US are informing their compatriots in the US about the commitment of Mexico to stop drug smuggling and specifically fentanyl. US officials recently proposed resolving the fentanyl crisis by having US President Joe Biden authorize military action against the Mexican cartels. The proposal was introduced in January 2023 by Republican Representatives Dan Crenshaw of Texas and Michael Waltz of Florida.

The proposal of these representatives went almost unnoticed. But the idea regained attention due to the increase in fentanyl trafficking. US Attorney General Merrick Garland accused Mexican drug cartels of deliberately causing a fentanyl crisis and urged the Mexican government to come up with better strategies to combat the problem. “It is a horrible epidemic that the Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación cartels have unleashed on purpose. Mexico is helping us, but they could do a lot more,” Garland said.

“Mexico is committed to the fight against fentanyl. We have seized 6.4 tons of fentanyl so far during the López Obrador administration. Having seized those tons means that we prevented 6.4 billion doses from reaching the hands of drug users in the US. That fentanyl did not reach the border with Rio Bravo and therefore it did not reach the schools or reach North American youth,” said Pável Meléndez Cruz, Consul General of Mexico in Denver.

Destruction of clandestine laboratories

Meléndez Cruz provided more details on the strategy to combat the scourge of drugs. The consul explained that his government has dealt a heavy blow to the drug cartels by destroying many clandestine laboratories where fentanyl is used to increase the effect of other drugs. “We have destroyed 153 percent more clandestine laboratories in this administration compared to previous ones. This has been possible because we have an intelligence system for coordination with different levels of government”, he indicated.

The consul points out that the recently founded National Guard has joined this effort against drug trafficking. The Armed Forces are also participating. “Practically all Mexican customs are controlled by the Mexican Army, because we are doing a reconfiguration to clean up the issue of corruption in customs and sea and land ports in Mexico,” explains Meléndez Cruz. The consul ensures the intelligence services, the Army and the National Guard have access to the technology to fulfill his assignment.

Mexican officials died

According to what the consul explains, Mexico has made another important contribution but has not been highlighted. “We have made the seizures with 75 casualties from our Armed Forces and security. We have also contributed the fallen,” he said. The consul launches a direct criticism of the US government. “What has really been difficult to understand is how criminal groups in Mexico have followed obtaining US manufactured weapons. This has happened even though we have practically confiscated more or less 13,000 weapons”, he reveals.

The consul continues, “we have not finished making a substantial reduction in arms trafficking that should exist or exists between the United States and Mexico. In other words, weapons continue to be supplied from the north to the south. So, it is difficult to fight these organized criminal groups, which are sometimes almost as armed as the Mexican Armed Forces or the Mexican Army”.

Security Cabinet comes to Washington, D.C

Meléndez Cruz indicated that in April the members of the Mexican security cabinet will come to the White House. That group will be headed by Rosa Isela Rodríguez, Secretary of Citizen Security. “The delegation that will arrive in Washington will report on the progress we have made in these two quarters of 2023. The important thing that must be rescued here is that they want to get a commitment from the US government to develop a drug prevention campaign that it should be applied in the US”, he concluded.