The President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, defended his interests again this Friday, pointing out that the statements by the Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, about the control of some regions by criminal organizations, are false.
On Wednesday, during a hearing before the Senate International Expenditures Subcommittee, the secretary was questioned by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham about whether the cartels dominate some Mexican regions. In this regard, Blinken said: “I think it is fair to say yes” and added that citizens are the ones who suffer from insecurity and violence, and that more work must be done to eradicate them.
In this regard, during his usual morning press conference, Obrador explained that, when asked by the senator, Blinken “was reporting on the cooperation that exists between governments, he is aware that we are working in a coordinated manner, but he interrupted him and He told him ‘let’s see’, and then he had to say yes, unfortunately, that there were regions of Mexico dominated by drug traffickers.”
“That is false, it is not true… There is no place in Mexico where there is no presence of the authority,” added the Mexican president.
“I can tell Mr. Blinken that – I think he knows – we are constantly destroying clandestine laboratories in Sinaloa, in Sonora, everywhere,” he said.
The Mexican president denied a distance from the Biden Administration and pointed out that the debate could exist: “I understand about Mr. Blinken, he is a good person, but he has to do his job and I must fulfill my responsibility.”
On Thursday, Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard justified Blinken by pointing out that he was pressured by Senator Graham.
“I see him, I saw him in a hearing [audiencia], very pressured, but he said ‘Mexico is doing a lot’, I just saw him just now. And that is not politicking, what he is doing is appearing,” the Mexican foreign minister told reporters.
It is not the first time that the Mexican president has faced Washington. This very week, the president attacked the annual report of the US Department of State on human rights. “If you see the report… it’s a mess… there is no support, they use slander,” the president said Wednesday.
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