Ken Salazar called for dismantling drug cartels in collaboration with Mexico

He United States Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar offered this Friday, March 10 a conference on the case of the four Americans kidnapped in the city ​​of matamorosa fact for which two of them lost their lives, and said that in the US government “we will have no rest until the culprits are brought to justice”.

Salazar explained that in matamoros, town located in the area known as “Frontera Chica”, people live with “a lot of fear” by the drug cartels, which have acquired enormous power, which is why he considered necessary to dismantle these drug trafficking organizations in collaboration with the Government of Mexico, with full respect for sovereignty.

The United States Ambassador clarified that proposals made in the United States by Republican lawmakers to declare as groups terrorists to the Mexican cartels is not viable nor does he obey the vision of the Administration of Joe BidenHowever, he affirmed that the fight against violence and drug trafficking is a task of cooperation between Mexico and the United States.

The diplomat highlighted the levels of violence perpetrated by criminals on the small border, and as an example he cited the attack on one of his consulates: “In Nuevo Laredo, a few months ago, the cartels violently attacked us there.

Regarding the case of the 4 North American citizens attacked in Matamoros, where two of them, in addition to a Mexican woman, lost their lives, Salazar highlighted the support of Mexican agencies in locating the victims.

The US diplomat said that although five alleged suspects in the attack have already been assured, investigations must continue in depth, as the growth of power that criminals wield in the border area cannot be allowed. Salazar pointed out that there are places in Matamoros where embassy and consulate staff cannot even go, due to the high level of insecurity.

The Ambassador emphasized that the effort to combat fentanyl trafficking and cartel-generated violence will be a joint effort and that the effort to launch a campaign to expose the harms of synthetic drugs will transcend the international scale.

“I want to emphasize that in all of this we do it as partners, which is different from what has happened between Mexico and the United States in the past. President Biden, on several occasions during his meetings with President López Obrador, said that the relationship between the two nations is a relationship of partners and that in terms of security and the campaign against fentanyl, it is extremely important that we move forward as partners. we will strengthen operationally, with resources, the effort against fentanyl and with the crime that this problem brings us in the United States and Mexico,” Ken Salazar said of the work that the two administrations will carry out.

Regarding statements by Republican Senator Lindsay Graham to promote an initiative in the United States to declare Mexican cartels terrorist groups, which he said would expand the powers of US authorities to act against these criminal groups, the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador expressed his rejection.

“Now one of the coordinators of the Republican Party said yesterday (March 8) that they were going to present an initiative for the American armed forces to intervene in Mexico to combat drug trafficking; in particular to prevent, according to him, fentanyl from reaching the United States from Mexico. We immediately fixed our position: we are not going to allow any foreign government to intervene, let alone the armed forces of a foreign government to intervene on our territory”, declared the executive during his press conference. .