José Díaz Briseño / Reform Agency
Tuesday, March 14, 2023 | five pm
Chicago, United States.- The American newspaper The Chicago Tribune described President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Tuesday as a delusional leader for assuring last week that there is no illegal production of fentanyl in Mexico despite the seizures of synthetic drug laboratories in Mexican territory.
Labeling it a blatant lie, the main newspaper in the city of Chicago, Illinois, assured that López Obrador’s denial about the production of a synthetic drug such as fentanyl makes collaboration with the United States in the fight against cartels much more difficult. of drug trafficking
“The United States voted to remove its lying president in 2020. But across the border, Mexico is grappling with its own delusional leader, who recently spun a blatant lie,” the Chicago Tribune said in an institutional editorial signed by the Editorial Board. of the newspaper founded in 1847.
“We don’t expect López Obrador to suddenly change his ways and become a model of telling the truth. But his denial about the production of fentanyl in Mexico makes it doubly difficult for the United States and his country to collaborate in the eradication of the cartels.”
Just last Thursday, López Obrador assured during his daily press conference that in Mexico there is no production of fentanyl, the synthetic opioid up to 50 times more powerful than heroin, and that the US authorities place as responsible for around 70,000 deaths. due to an overdose in 2021.
“Perhaps López Obrador is trying to save face by selling even more of his lies, but he is certainly not saving lives,” said the institutional editorial of the sixth most read newspaper in the US.
“In terms of the size of the lies, López Obrador’s saying falls short of Donald Trump’s Big Lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.”
According to reports presented by the National Defense Secretariat (SEDENA) itself last January, the total amount of fentanyl in Mexican territory during the current six-year term of López Obrador already exceeded 6 tons in places such as clandestine laboratories, private homes, and warehouses.
According to the US newspaper, López Obrador’s statements denying the production of fentanyl in Mexico would have the function of distracting attention from his security policy, which the US newspaper claims has failed to reduce levels of violence that remain at extremely high levels. .
“Perhaps López Obrador’s lies are a way of diverting attention from the failure of his ‘hugs, not bullets’ approach to fighting the cartels,” the Chicago Tribune editorial published in its online version repudiated.
“The policy hasn’t worked at all, and the cartels have flourished largely unchecked. Under López Obrador, Mexico’s murder rate stands at near-record levels. The number of drug cartel labs under López Obrador has also shot up.”
The newspaper noted that “López Obrador can help himself and his country if he finally realizes that treating the cartels with kid gloves only gives drug traffickers license to ramp up production and chaos. Mexico is not a failed state.” yet, but that’s his trajectory unless he drastically toughens his treatment of the cartels.”
According to the Tribune, the Mexican president should be interested in cooperating in the fight against fentanyl trafficking to prevent the Joe Biden Administration from giving its support to an Opposition candidate in the 2024 Mexican presidential elections that will define his successor.
As recently as January 22, military sources from SEDENA assured Grupo REFORMA that at least a third of the fentanyl seizures have occurred in Culiacán, Sinaloa, where they claim the drug is manufactured by “Los Chapitos”, the sons of the former leader. of the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
