President AMLO and Blinken to Address Drug Trafficking Issues

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet on October 5 in Mexico City during a high-level meeting on drug trafficking.

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The meeting comes at a time of crisis due to the trafficking and consumption of fentanyl in the United States, just a few weeks after the extradition of the Mexican drug trafficker Ovidio Guzman, son of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

Blinken will travel accompanied by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Attorney General Merrick Garland, White House Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall, and other high-level officials.

The Mexico meeting will discuss the implementation of the Bicentennial Understanding, the common security strategy launched by the AMLO administration and President Joe Biden.

At the heart of the discussions will be the issue of fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid that, according to Washington, is manufactured by Mexican cartels using chemicals purchased in China and then trafficked to the U.S., where over 70,000 people died from overdoses of this substance last year.

President AMLO insists, however, that fentanyl is not produced in Mexico but arrives directly from the Asian giant, despite his government having dismantled several drug labs.

Mexico also urges the United States to stop the trafficking of firearms, which often end up in the hands of the Mexican organized crime, exacerbating violence in the country.

As a sign of cooperation, the AMLO administration approved the extradition of Ovidio Guzman to the U.S., where he is accused of leading the Sinaloa Cartel and trafficking in fentanyl. The U.S. is now requesting the capture and extradition of El Chapo's other sons.