Mexico City.- Officials from Mexico and the United States hold a high-level meeting on Thursday to define strategies in the fight against fentanyl and the illegal trafficking of firearms.
The Mexican delegation, headed by the Secretary for Citizen Security and Protection, Rosa Icela Rodríguez, met this morning with their US counterpart in a room at the White House.
“Convinced that coordinated work gives better results, we started a bilateral meeting to combat the trafficking of synthetic drugs and firearms. We will address issues of security, public health, prevention and collaboration.
#Mexico and #USA are united for peace,” he reported.
In addition to this first meeting, it is expected that Mexican officials will have a working lunch at the Department of Justice and, later, the Canadian delegation will join the trilateral security meeting.
The Mexican delegation will present a report on the results of anti-drug matters, including seizures of fentanyl and other chemical drugs.
According to official figures, so far in the six-year term – from December 1, 2018 to March 6, 2023 – federal forces have seized 6,115 kilograms of fentanyl, a figure 1,49 percent higher than that registered between 27 August 2014 and November 30, 2018.
In the same period of this Administration, 180.9 tons of methamphetamine have been seized, which meant an increase of 92 percent compared to the same period immediately before, which accumulated 94.1 tons.
The Mexican delegation is made up of Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard; the Attorney General of the Republic, Alejandro Gertz; the Secretaries of Defense and the Navy, Luis Cresencio Sandoval and Rafael Ojeda, respectively; as well as the head of the National Intelligence Center, Audomaro Martínez; and the Ambassador of Mexico in Washington, Esteban Moctezuma, among others.
On the US side, in the different activities, the participation of Prosecutor Merrick Garland is contemplated; the Secretary of the Navy, Carlos del Toro; National Security Adviser Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall; the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Rahul Gupta, and Ambassador Ken Salazar, among others.
On the eve of the bilateral security meeting with the United States, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador decreed the creation of a new Commission to coordinate actions against the trafficking of synthetic drugs, firearms, and ammunition.
In the document, the Federal President acknowledges that the use of fentanyl for non-medical purposes, as an adulterant for heroin and other drugs, as well as for counterfeiting opioid drugs, implies a high risk of overdose and death from respiratory depression.
On the other hand, one day before this meeting, the Administration of President Joe Biden refuted the statements of President López Obrador that there is no illegal production of fentanyl in Mexico.
The director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), Rahul Gupta, assured that the manufacture of said synthetic opioid occurs in Mexican territory and even that situations of abuse in the consumption of fentanyl They do not only exist in the US because they could also occur in Mexican territory.
“We know that precursors from China are reaching Mexico. We know that fentanyl is being produced in Mexico. We know that there is traffic across the border (with Mexico) and that we also have air and sea routes to the United States,” Gupta insisted. in a virtual press conference.
Ebrard offers to reduce fentanyl
During the bilateral meeting, Marcelo Ebrard indicated that the objective of the Mexican delegation is to identify what additional actions the two countries can take to reduce the trafficking of synthetic opioids and firearms.
“The focus of the Mexican delegation, the instruction that we have, is to identify what are the additional actions that we can take so that the Bicentennial Agreement has better results in two indicators: reduction of fentanyl and deaths from fentanyl and reduction of violence in Mexico due to weapons fire,” he said.
Ebrard highlighted before Sherwood-Randall, who is in charge of the fight against fentanyl at the White House, that the entire Mexican Security Cabinet attended the meeting.
“As you can see, the entire Security Cabinet is there, we thank you because today we saw each other for one more hour and we want to especially thank Dr. Alejandro Gertz, the Attorney General of the Republic, for being here,” he said.
