The Secretary of Homeland Security confirms before a hearing in Congress what was said by the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.
Washington. The head of United States diplomacy, Antony Blinken, said it a few days ago and the Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, repeated it yesterday in Congress: the drug cartels control “parts of Mexico.”
In a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mayorkas explained President Joe Biden’s policy in managing the border with Mexico and the opioid crisis and barely fended off the onslaught of Republicans.
Republican Lindsey Graham, who claims that “the United States is under attack” from “foreign powers called drug cartels in Mexico,” brought a battery of questions prepared.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador “denied that there were parts of his country under the control of cartels, do you agree with him?” Graham asked, a supporter of returning to the immigration policy of former Republican President Donald Trump.
“No,” Mayorkas replied.
“Do you agree with Secretary Blinken that there are parts of Mexico run by drug cartels?” he wanted to know.
“Yes,” Mayorkas replied.
A few days ago López Obrador affirmed that “this is false, it is not true” because “there is no part of the territory where there is no presence of the authority.”
A reliable partner?
He was thus reacting to a comment by Blinken in the Senate, where he stated that he “might consider” declaring the Mexican cartels terrorist organizations.
Republican Lindsey Graham asked Mayorkas if he seconded him on this point, but the Homeland Security secretary said the decision rested with the State Department and was complicated by the difficulty of drawing “the line” between crime and terrorism.
The Republican senator also asked him if he thought Mexico was a reliable partner against immigration and the fight against fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that has killed tens of thousands of Americans.
“We work with Mexico in the fight against fentanyl (…) We have handled large cases (together) and we are looking to improve our cooperation,” Mayorkas told him, who insisted on the need to deal not only with supply but also with demand.
“In addition to increasing our work with Mexico, we also need to address the fact that the precursor chemicals, as well as the equipment used to make ‘synthetic’ narcotics originate from China,” he added.
Weapons in Mexico
Security on the border between the United States and Mexico took up a good part of the four hours that the hearing lasted.
Democratic Senator Peter Welch brought up a protest by Obrador, who complains about the amount of weapons that enter Mexico from the United States and end up in the hands of the cartels.
“Are we doing everything we can to cooperate with the president to keep our weapons from going south?” Welch asked. “Yes, we are,” Mayorkas replied.
The immigration system “is absolutely broken,” Mayorkas repeated once again.
Source: El Economista
