Opening the front against fentanyl: the representative of the White House will meet AMLO

The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) will meet with the Secretary of State of the United States (USA), John Kerry and the representative of White House in the near future.

Although details of the Secretary’s visit are not known, it was expected that the White House representative’s arrival was due to a discussion of what to do next. against fentanyl trafficking in the United States, a priority issue for both countries.

This was announced by the Mexican President, who at the March 7 press conference announced that the first meeting is scheduled for the 9th of this month. In the meantime, it is planned that on March 21, an in-person meeting will be held with John Kerry In Mexico.

“The day after tomorrow the head of the White House will be there to confront the use of fentanyl, we have permanent communication,” he said from the National Palace.

Meanwhile, the chief executive added that a country tour with US lawmakers is on the bilateral agenda.

The president’s announcement comes amid US-Mexico tensions over the kidnapping of four US citizens and recent accusations by politicians in the neighboring country.

Last week, a former lawyer from the United States, William Barr(who served during the administration of Donald Trump), published a text in which, on the one hand, he accused the López Obrador government of supporting the Mexican drug cartels and, on the other hand, he supported an initiative promoted by two Republican members of Congress so that the US military can fight these groups on Mexican territory.

The proposal presented was launched by members of Congress, Dan Crenshaw and Michael Waltz, who seek to grant powers to their country’s military to “combat, attack, resist, target, eliminate and limit the influence” of groups criminals responsible for treat fentanyl —or related substances—and those involved in the violence that caused a “regional destabilization in the Western Hemisphere”.

In the list of objectives that this measure would have, appear the cartels of Sinaloa, Jalisco New Generation (CJNG), of gulfof the Zetas, northeastJuárez, Tijuana, from the Beltrán Leyva family and the Michoacana family.

It should be noted that the initiative was sent in January 2023 and is on hold, to enter into force it would have to be approved by the US Congress and then sent to the Senate.

According to the most recent reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), from September 2021 to September 2022, 68,082 deaths occurred due to overdose in the United States, which were linked to the use of opioids. synthetics such as fentanyl.

This is in addition to data calculated by the authorities, who estimate that 80,000 deaths per year are linked to this drug..