“Socalj” for Borderland Beat
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Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Friday that he has proof that fentanyl is being smuggled into his country from China, contrary to Beijing’s denials.
“We have the evidence. A cargo arrived from a port in China, a container, at the port of Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan (state), then all the laboratory analysis was done and very respectfully, we are going to send this information,” he said during his daily morning press conference.
AMLO said he will send a second letter to Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping asking for assistance in combating the illegal trade in fentanyl, which is blamed for 100,000 deaths a year in the United States.
After the first letter was sent, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning denied the existence of illegal fentanyl trafficking between China and Mexico.
The president then called the Navy Secretary, Adm. Jose Rafael Ojeda, to the podium to provide the details.
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Mexican Navy Secretary Rafael Ojeda said the container intercepted in Lázaro Cárdenas had packages weighing 34-35kg (75 pounds) with traces of fentanyl and methamphetamine hidden in fuel resin. The cargo had left the Chinese city of Qingdao and passed through Busan in South Korea before reaching Mexico.
AMLO said that he will ask Xi “if it is possible that they impede that these chemicals leave from their ports, that they only allow exit of substances or fentanyl used for medical purposes, which is not the case that we detected.”
“We are going to send a letter to the president of China with this information, in a very respectful – a very much respectful – way, reiterating the request that they help us with the information because this would allow us to have more control,” AMLO said.
United States Ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar’s Statement
The United States Ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, affirmed that the fentanyl challenge comes from organized crime and exists in the United States and Mexico.
The statement contrasts with the statements of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has assured that Mexico does not produce fentanyl, but rather that it is imported from China. Ken Salazar maintained that it is a problem and a global reality that must be fought in regional alliances.