Fentanyl / Migrant Crisis

Mexico to Be Blamed for Fentanyl Trafficking: AMLO. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador expressed that Mexico will be blamed for the fentanyl trafficking crisis in the upcoming presidential elections next year in the US. 

López Obrador accused national and international media of manipulation regarding the fentanyl issue and claimed that two reports released in the UK by Sky News and Channel 4 about the way the synthetic drug is made are lies.

Republican lawmakers in the US and López Obrador have been engaged in a war of statements for months about who is to blame for the fentanyl trafficking. Republicans have urged the Biden administration to declare cartels as "terrorist organizations" and to have the US military combat them "wherever they are," including within Mexico, which López Obrador sees as a violation of the country’s sovereignty.

The Mexican President has called those who propose the use of the US Army within Mexico as "meddlers and interventionists.”

Fentanyl is a pain reliever that is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and is commonly used to treat diseases, such as cancer. However, it is also used to increase the potency of heroin and is currently responsible for the deaths of about 200 people per day in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

AMLO Will Try to Stop Migration Through His Morning Conference. President López Obrador said that information from the morning press conference will be used to persuade migrants not to make the risky journey of crossing Mexico to reach the US. This comes a few days before the US ends Title 42, a decree imposed during the health emergency generated by COVID-19 with the purpose of deporting irregular migrants by arguing public health protection.

The president explained that the regional migration policy has been advancing as the US offers legal alternatives for people from other countries to come and work.