The United States criticizes Mexico for its “lack of will” in the fentanyl crisis

Photo: RAUL ARBOLEDA / AFP / Getty Images

The United States puts pressure on Mexico due to its alleged “lack of will” to dedicate greater resources to help counteract the illegal trafficking of fentanyl to US soil.said this Thursday Todd Robinson, assistant secretary for International Narcotics Affairs in the United States.

“To be honest, the challenge we have with Mexico is their lack of will to put their resources into this fight and we are putting pressure on them to do so,” Robinson said before a US Senate subcommittee in which he added that they are working to “convince” them. that they must do more to end drug trafficking of this opiate.

“The resources on the Mexican side, up to this point, have not been sufficient for the task.“concluded the head of the US State Department’s anti-drug office.

Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid 50 times stronger than morphine and the cause of the worst drug crisis in the history of the United States, where Last year more than 70,000 people died from overdoses of this substance.

Thus, the Biden Administration seeks greater cooperation with Mexico and China, countries it considers exporters of this drug, to stop its flow.

According to the Government of Joe Biden, the Mexican cartels of Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación produce fentanyl in clandestine laboratories using chemicals and cosmetics that they legally acquire from China and then traffic and distribute them in United States territory.

In fact, despite the repeated denials of the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the head of the anti-drug office of the US State Department maintained last month in an interview with EFE that “fentanyl is manufactured in Mexico”.

For its part, Mexico reported several weeks ago that they are developing a monitoring and tracking system that will allow fentanyl chemicals to be detected in Mexican ports and border crossings.

Additionally, López Obrador said in April that he had contacted his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to engage more effectively on this issue.

And it is that Beijing has ruled out participating in the global coalition against fentanyl launched in July by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. along with more than 70 countries, Mexico among them.

In this sense, Robinson told EFE last month that China “can do a better job” exchanging information about the chemicals it distributes, ensuring correct labeling of these products and monitoring who purchases them.

Keep reading:
· Fentanyl: young people in the United States are warned that it is a bad time to experiment with drugs
· US anti-drug chief, Todd Robinson, assures that fentanyl is produced in Mexico.
· US authorities warn about pills with fentanyl sold by pharmacies in tourist destinations in Mexico.