Thursday, December 5

NYT responds to Sheinbaum about chemistry students recruited by drug traffickers

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By The Opinion

04 Dec 2024, 1:09 PM EST

After the statement given by the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaumby rejecting that organized crime in Mexico is recruiting chemistry students to produce fentanyl as published by The New York Times, the response from the American media was immediate.

Paulina Villegasone of the authors of the report responded to the president during an interview with Azucena Uresti for Radio Formula.

“It says it right there: our sources are nine members of the Sinaloa Cartelof the organization of different levels, starting with students; That is, the testimonies are first-hand. Also recruiters, people of the highest level who confirmed in great detail how this recruitment process is carried out, the reasons why young people decide to enter the business, and we also confirmed and corroborated every detail of how this phenomenon happens. “We also spoke with US authorities, with professors from universities in the state of Sinaloa.”

Villegas added that he found the president’s statement strange, “which says that there is no information from her security cabinet, when also This was already published in an intelligence report from the Ministry of National Defense (SEDENA) where they talk about a possible recruitment of chemistry students.”

He clarifies that they even put “the link to this intelligence report that was made public in 2020, when it was hacked and published by a group of hackers, as stated in the text, and this was corroborated by many more sources.”

Regarding why the president gave those statements, Paulina Villegas expressed that it is not up to her or her partner. Natalie Kitroeffalso the author of the article, to speculate or respond about her reasons

“It is up to us to do that type of work, which I, as a Mexican, consider very relevant and worrying, and to maintain the information and be extremely responsible, careful with our sources and in the way we work. The rest, the decisions, the comments made by public officials, is your responsibility. We owe it to the public and our readers.”

President Sheinbaum questioned the veracity of the report during her morning session on December 2, referring to the series “Breaking Bad” as a possible source of the report.

Young people are attracted by the profits that cartels offer for working for them. One of the main factors that attracts them is the high remuneration they offer, which can be greater than 800 dollars a month to synthesize fentanyl.

Keep reading:
– Sheinbaum rejects an “invasion” of the US army to combat drug trafficking in Mexico.
– Sheinbaum “collides” with Trump; claims for weapons production and drug users in the US