Mexico complains to China about U.S. stress over fentanyl

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s president requested his Chinese counterpart for assist Tuesday in halting chemical compounds from China utilized by Mexican drug sellers to illegally produce fentanyl, whereas additionally complaining of “rude” U.S. stress to curb the drug commerce.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has beforehand mentioned that fentanyl is America’s drawback and is brought on by “a lack of hugs” in U.S. households. On Tuesday he doubled down on these themes, however went additional, venting in a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping about “rude threats” from U.S. legislators over the drug commerce.

López Obrador complained about calls within the United States to designate Mexican drug gangs as terrorist organizations. Some Republicans have mentioned they favor utilizing the U.S. army to crack down on the Mexican cartels.

“Unjustly, they are blaming us for problems that in large measure have to do with their loss of values, their welfare crisis,” López Obrador wrote to Xi within the letter printed Tuesday. “These positions are in themselves a lack of respect and a threat to our sovereignty, and moreover they are based on an absurd, manipulative, propagandistic and demagogic attitude.”

Only after a number of paragraphs of venting, López Obrador brings up China’s exports of fentanyl precursors, and requested him to assist cease shipments of chemical compounds that Mexican cartels import from China.

“I write to you, President Xi Jinping, not to ask your help on these rude threats, but to ask you for humanitarian reasons to help us by controlling the shipments of fentanyl,” the Mexican president wrote.

China has taken some steps to restrict fentanyl exports, however mislabeled or harder-to-detect precursor chemical compounds proceed to pour out of Chinese factories.

It was not instantly clear if Xi had acquired the letter or if he had responded to it. López Obrador has a historical past of writing confrontational letters to world leaders with out getting a response.

López Obrador has angrily denied that fentanyl is produced in Mexico. However, his personal administration has acknowledged discovering dozens of labs the place it’s produced, primarily within the northern state of Sinaloa.

Most unlawful fentanyl is pressed by Mexican cartels into counterfeit drugs made to appear like different drugs like Xanax, oxycodone or Percocet, or combined into different medication, together with heroin and cocaine. Many individuals who die of overdoses within the United States have no idea they’re taking fentanyl.

Over the final week, López Obrador has fixated on press stories stating that the National Basketball Association had supplied in talks with the gamers’ union to cease testing or penalizing gamers for utilizing marijuana.

The Mexican president took that as proof of U.S. social and ethical decay, though Mexico has legalized the rising of marijuana for private and medical use.

“We are seeing the basketball league has authorized players to smoke marijuana,” López Obrador mentioned. “How can that be? Imagine, in sports! It shouldn’t be allowed anywhere.”

López Obrador doubled down on his recommendation to strengthen household values within the United States on Tuesday. He claims that close-knit households has allowed Mexico to keep away from a fentanyl disaster, although the nation has an enormous drawback with home methamphetamine consumption.

“I would tell them for example, to keep their children at home longer, don’t kick them out of the hose, keep them (at home) for two or three years more,” he mentioned throughout a information convention.

Fentanyl is an artificial opioid trafficked by Mexican cartels that has been blamed for about 70,000 overdose deaths per yr within the United States.

Experts say that Mexican cartels are making a lot cash now from the U.S. market that they see no have to promote fentanyl of their house market.