Key Takeaways
- The Mexican President accused U.S. agencies of poor coordination on drug cartels information.
- The DEA cited over 44,800 affiliates of the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation Cartels operating in 100 countries.
- Both leaders highlighted the link between cartel activity and the growing fentanyl crisis in the United States.
MEXICO CITY: Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday criticized U.S. agencies for lacking coordination regarding information they have on Mexican drug cartels.
In his daily press conference, the president dismissed the statements made this week by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Anne Milgram before a House hearing.
Milgram said that the Sinaloa Cartel and Jalisco New Generation Cartel, both from Mexico, have over 44,800 members, associates, facilitators, and brokers in 100 countries. She held the two cartels responsible for the fentanyl crisis in the United States.
“Let them tell us what evidence they have. With all due respect, the problem they have within the U.S. government is that there is no coordination between them (agencies),” said Lopez Obrador, in response to press questions in the city of Tepic, the capital of Nayarit state.
Lopez Obrador explained that this information was not revealed in a meeting held this week with the U.S. security team headed by White House Homeland Security Advisor Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall in Mexico City.
This is not the first time that U.S. officials publicly disseminated unsolicited information on criminal organizations in the country, asserting that Mexican authorities “do not have good information,” he said.
