Fentanyl is a designer drug that has wreaked havoc in the United States, killing thousands of people. It is made from components that come from China and go through Mexico.
The fight against fentanyl must be as global as the fight against Covid-19, the US ambassador to Mexico stressed on Saturday about the synthetic drug, which is killing thousands of Americans with chemical components from China via Mexico.
“The World Must Unite”
“The world needs to come together and it’s no longer about Mexico and the United States. Governments in Europe are looking at what’s happening with fentanyl,” Ken Salazar told reporters.
President Joe Biden’s right-hand man called Thursday’s bilateral meeting in Washington “historic” on the fight against drug trafficking from Mexico to the United States and arms trafficking in the opposite direction.
At the end of the meeting, US officials announced sanctions on Friday against networks that implicate China in the transportation of fentanyl. Two Chinese companies accused of supplying chemical compounds to the cartel were targeted by Treasury Ministry sanctions.
Three of El Chapo’s sons charged
The Justice Department has indicted 28 people, including the three children of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who is serving a life sentence in a Colorado prison.
Ovidio, one of the three Guzmán sons, was arrested in Mexico on January 5, which resulted in the deaths of 29 people (10 soldiers and 19 suspected criminals). The US requested his extradition in February.
Others have been arrested in Colombia, Greece, Guatemala and the United States, said Anne Milgram, director of the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
China denies illegal trade with Mexico
On April 6, Beijing denied the existence of “illegal trafficking of fentanyl between China and Mexico”.
“The United States must face its own problem and take steps to reduce demand,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said.
He was questioned about a letter Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wrote to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping asking for help in the fight against fentanyl trafficking between China and Mexico.