Washington, Apr 13 (EFE).- The Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary, Marcelo Ebrard, indicated on Thursday his country’s willingness to collaborate with the United States to reduce fentanyl trafficking and the deaths caused by this synthetic drug.
“The instruction 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 firearms,” he said.
The foreign minister spoke at the beginning of a meeting with US representatives to address issues of drug trafficking, immigration and security.
“That is the objective of the presence here and we come in that disposition,” Ebrard said in statements provided by the Mexican Foreign Ministry.
The meeting comes two days after the United States announced that it will reinforce its strategy against the consumption and trafficking of fentanyl from Mexico, after weeks of criticism and cross statements with the neighboring country about the fight against this synthetic drug.
This Wednesday, Washington also officially described fentanyl adulterated or mixed with xylazine, a powerful animal sedative used as a drug that had already been partially prohibited from importing, as an “emerging threat” in the country.
Ebrard already announced yesterday upon his arrival in the US capital that his country is “the main ally” of the United States in the fight against fentanyl and that “the priority for Mexico is to stop US arms trafficking to reduce the fire capacity of criminal organizations and have more security”.
In recent weeks, various voices in the Joe Biden Administration have expressed the opinion that Mexico should do more in the fight against fentanyl and organized crime, while the Republican opposition has gone further and wants the Army to be authorized to intervene against the responsible organizations “wherever they are”.
The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has responded that the opioid overdose crisis is a public health issue that the United States must resolve and has even denied that fentanyl is manufactured in his country, arguing that this substance reaches North America from Asia.
