US Officials Respond to AMLO About Fentanyl Manufacture: ‘Yes, It’s Produced in Mexico’

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard both endorsed their commitment to the fight against drugs, but both reiterated that Fentanyl is not produced in Mexicocontrary to what the American authorities have indicated in this regard.

Following the statements of the Federal President, two senior American officials assured that In Mexican territory, this synthetic opioid is produced, thanks to chemical precursors from Asian countries. Likewise, they indicated that their manufacture is done by drug cartels and the pills are sent to the neighboring country.

First, the Under Secretary of State for Continental Affairs, Brian Nicholstold a Senate Foreign Affairs Committee legislative hearing on U.S.-Brazil relations that the fentanyl that floods the American streets is produced in Mexico. In this way, he contradicted what was indicated by AMLO and by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE).

Republican Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty asked Nichols if President López Obrador’s statements were correct or inaccurate. “Fentanyl is produced in Mexico”affirmed the American official, adding that the chemical precursors used for its preparation come from all over the world.

This same position was held by the Deputy Director of the Department of Homeland Security (HSI) Investigative Agency, Stephen Caganwho testified on March 15 during an appearance from Texas and pointed out that said precursors leave China and arrive in Mexico, where they end up in clandestine laboratories for his illegal production.

“(In Mexico) is where the drugs are produced. That’s where the cartels produce it“, Cagan limited, for which he assured that the American authorities have worked to intercept the chemical precursors in order to prevent their manufacture.

In this regard, Stephen Cagan acknowledged that the US Department of Homeland Security has been working on coordination with Mexican authorities to inhibit the trafficking of this synthetic opioid which has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of American citizens due to the overdose (remember that fentanyl can be up to 50 times stronger than heroin).

Nichols and Cagan’s accusations contrast with those of President López Obrador and Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, who in an interview with Ciro Gómez Leyva ‘Por la Mañana’ -carried out on Wednesday March 15- reiterated that this type of opioid is not produced in Mexico. “Until today in Mexico it has not been demonstrated or no action has been taken against a sophisticated laboratory in which we can say ‘we produce fentanyl'”, assured the boss of the SRE.

“The problem we have is throughput. He Fentanyl is usually produced in Asian countries, but also in the United States,” added Marcelo Ebrard. The same position was shown by AMLO, who in his traditional morning lectures assured that in Mexico there is no record of production or consumption of the opioid.

In order to combat drug trafficking, the Chief Executive proposed to replace medical fentanyl with other types of painkillers. “I will ask Mexican doctors and scientists to analyze the possibility that we can replace fentanyl for medical purposes By others painkillers to stop using it, let’s see if it’s possible,” he said on March 15.

In this sense, he explained that although there are laws that allow its medical use in a controlled way, if it can be replaced, the prohibition of the substance will be sought to prevent its importation. “The same if we do it in Mexico, We will ask them to do it in the United States“, advanced López Obrador.