When Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador Americans’ 70,000+ annual fentanyl overdose deaths are said to be the result of America’s inherent “social decay” that has nothing to do with cross-border smuggling by Mexican cartels, GOP lawmakers hearkening all the way to Mexico City Loud voice to give.
He then proceeded to call on President Biden to take military action against the cartel.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said, “We are going to unleash the fury and power of the United States of America against these cartels.” Republicans also called on the administration to designate drug cartels as international terrorist organizations.
Graham joined other Republicans who piled on the fentanyl crisis and Mexico during the November midterms.
lopez obrador roared back, He told the Mexican press, “We are not going to allow any foreign government to interfere and much less allow foreign armed forces to intervene in our territory.” continues. “Mexico is not a colony of the United States or one of its protectorates.”
True, Mexico is neither. However, the country is one of the largest trading partners of the US, with approximately $1.7 billion in products and services crossing the US-Mexico border daily. As part of America’s nearly $5 trillion annual trade with other countries, Mexico was number one in terms of trade value in 2021, followed by Canada and China. US Department of Commerce, And on the other hand, about 16% of total US exports go to Mexico.
That’s a lot of action at the world’s busiest border, The 1,951-mile southern border allows more than 300 million people, about 90 million cars, and 4.3 million truck crossings each year.
How then can US experts trace fentanyl shipments, which are small and easily concealed? The Biden administration recently added additional high-tech surveillance equipment specifically designed to detect fentanyl at border crossings.
Nice gesture but finding fentanyl amidst all that traffic is a difficult challenge that many say cannot be done.
“I believe there is no way to stop it,” said rap david tron (MD-D), who co-chaired the A Bipartisan Commission on Fentanyl Trafficking.
What is to be done?
Even if the Mexican government were to remove the cartel, it is doubtful that it has the firepower, much less the will, regardless of pressure from its northern neighbor.
Omar Garcia-Ponce, A political science professor at George Washington University told Newsweek that US intervention would be disastrous.
“There is growing evidence that pursuing such security strategies is more likely to fail, increasing both the duration and intensity of criminal wars (in Mexico and elsewhere),” García-Ponce said.
In a statement to NPR Friday afternoon, National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said the Biden administration “is not considering military action in Mexico.” He added that the US and Mexico “will continue to work on this problem together.”
Photo: Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador, Casa de Gobierno