‘It’s out of control’: increase in fentanyl trafficking from China to Mexico and official silence

PART III

The Fentanyl smuggling from China to Mexico “out of control” and the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador must do much more than just giving military control over customs. This was acknowledged by security advisers and experts after the publication of the investigation: “‘Murder 8’: chemical death that came from China to Mexico and the United States” in Infobae Mexico.

Chinese companies are shipping full shipments of fentanyl, a precursor chemical that has caused a health crisis in the United States, Mexico. Although President López Obrador admitted that this was a critical issue, official bodies preferred to remain silent about the documentation of companies sending shipments that were then used by drug cartels established on the site. the national territory.

“We are witnessing an exponential increase in the traffic of this precursor, precisely because of the absence of customs controls and strong legislation in this area. Drugs similar to fentanyl are regulated by the General Health Act because they have wide medical use. But this is not enough, because it is a law which regulates it in a general way and which did not establish the necessary mechanisms to control the legal importation of this type of opioids ”, he declared. . Infobae Mexico Ramón Celaya, specialist in security issues and teacher in criminal sciences.

While in Mexico, organized crime is finding more and more ways to introduce in larger quantities the chemical which, with minimal doses, plots a millionaire enterprise. The solution is seen from afar.

Celaya, a consultant in intelligence, armed forces and security processes, started from the general health law and explained that most trafficking is done legally with projects for which the military is not fully equipped to detect. .

“The General Health Law regulates drugs similar to fentanyl, because they have wide medical use, but this is not enough, as it is a law that regulates it in general and has not established the necessary mechanisms. to control the legal importation of this product. type of opioids“.

“What’s the matter?” Celaya asked. “Because the medical industry needs fentanyl to meet clinical needs, it can be camouflaged under this route. Sedena had seizures of fentanyl in situ. That is, when the illegal drugs reach the ports of Lázaro Cárdenas and Manzanillo, this is where this type of insurance is made, but that is the least, there is a large part that is not available. ‘study, which is trafficking in fentanyl legally, when supplied to the medical sector ”.

“That much It’s no longer just a concern of the United States, it should be a concern of Mexico too, in light of how the problem has developed, and I don’t think this concern comes from hegemonic imposition, but rather from a public health issue, “said Carolina Sampó, researcher at the National Council of Scientific and Technical Research of the National University of La Plata.

According to Sampó, the list of chemical precursors considered dangerous or at risk is constantly updated; a small change allows an unauthorized product to become legal, making it difficult to stay ahead of what criminal organizations are doing.

Impossible a unilateral solution

“For the United States, it’s a public health problem; for Mexico, it is a problem of organized crime ”, stressed Mauricio Soto, doctor in social policies and external researcher at the Institute of Strategic Research of the Mexican Navy, noting that “a really well organized strategy with the United States is necessary”, because neither Mexico nor its neighbor from the north could not solve the problem. question alone, “this is a totally bilateral problem”.

Soto explained to Infobae Mexico that the question is even more delicate than it appears, since in addition to the problem of public health and national security that it represents, “it can be used as a pretext to worsen the relationship (of the United States) with Mexico ”.

Along the same lines, security specialist Ricardo Márquez Blas said it would affect bilateral relations with the United States “because the Mexican government does not have a defined policy to counter drug trafficking actions and translate its leaders in court ”, contrary to that of the White House,“ there is clearly a point of disagreement between the policies of the two countries ”.

For the analyst, it is clear that, sooner or later, Mexico will have to change this policy to deal with the growing fentanyl problem. Even if he also regrets that the Mexican government does not seem to take concrete measures in the matter as long as it does not see the deaths increase from this cause, as in the neighbor to the north.

Mexico and its friendship with China

Javier Oliva, professor and researcher at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences of UNAM, examined during the consultation with Infobae Mexico Another option to address the sparkling threat of fentanyl: “Mexico should demand greater control from the Chinese government’s pharmaceutical health authorities, which are so centralized.”

Then he pointed out that, precisely by appealing to the friendship that the two governments seem to have strengthened in recent months – Mexican investments in Chinese companies and support for the COVID-19 vaccine, as proof – Mexico must ask for help. to China to stop the trafficking. the chemical that only exacerbates the violence of organized crime in its territory.

“We must take advantage of the right moment in relations with China to start a process … we are not saying that they are not manufactured far from there, it is China’s decision, but if there can be better levels of cooperation, based on increased control over exports of fentanyl or the precursors to manufacture it ”.

How could China support Mexico? In export procedures, underlines Javier Oliva, they are much more controlled, for example to count the quantities of fentanyl exported (as far as possible).

“What the Mexican government should do is establish precisely, together with the counterparts in the People’s Republic of China, the procedures for controlling exports, assuming not production, but export; that there is greater control in Chinese ports where the quantities that are exported, the goods that are exported, exported and imported are counted, here we are talking about the export of fentanyl, to achieve better monitoring and control Said Oliva, who he encouraged military participation in Customs in Congress.

“It seems to me that this is the step, I insist, even from the position that Mexico now has in the United Nations Security Council, on the day of the vote, Mexico was the country with the most votes for be on the Security Council. ; so, the visibility our country currently has must be used in a positive sense, of course, for containment or rather for the regulation of the export of fentanyl and precursors for its manufacture “.

The serious role of cartels

Regardless of what drugs are, the role of the Mexican cartels continues to be that of intermediaries, so they are present in Europe, Africa, South America, but their criminal dynamics have not changed much. Now, with the case of fentanyl, they only change partners who send them precursors in Asia.

“China is a big black box, it’s very difficult to know what’s going on there”, Carolina Sampó spoke about possible reactions from the Asian country. But it is difficult to know what steps to take to tackle the shipment of precursors, as there is no information, maybe the reports from Taiwan stand out.

The Mexican authorities were forced by two factors to deal with the production of fentanyl; on the one hand, pressure from the United States and, on the other hand, that illicit profits empower criminal groups.

This is the case with Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), a group that can acquire larger caliber weapons, recruit contract killers, bribe officials and operate with impunity whenever its monetary capacities increase.

“The CJNG is now the cartel that benefits the most from this trafficking and it is the cartel that poses the greatest threat to the Mexican government. We have seen that this is a very violent cartel that will stop at nothing, ”said Alexei Chévez Silveti, national security analyst.

Official silence

Asked about the follow-up of one of the 64 companies that sent precursor chemicals to cartels in Mexico, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) limited itself to answering that the only information concerning customs traffic had been presented on last year, upon notification of the shipment of drugs hidden in sharks.

But the institution under the Treasury agreed to review the list published by Infobae Mexico, without any major commitment to pay attention to the subject and to avoid any commentary on it.

In March 2020, a fishing company was reported in Costa Rica that transferred sharks to Yucatán and from there to Florida. To carry out its operations, this company used shell companies and obtained withdrawals of up to 544 million pesos. Presumably, the narcotic was traveling inside the sharks.

Meanwhile, another freezer company dedicated to the sea cucumber trade received 38.7 million and withdrawals for 413 million pesos in cash. The deposits went to Hong Kong and the United States.

Santiago Nieto, head of the FIU, He said in April last year that the entry of fentanyl would be controlled by customs, but only because the product could be used in patients intubated with COVID-19.

The Department of Public Security He requested that a petition be sent by mail on this matter, a request for which no response has been obtained regarding his resolution actions or whether he is working with China and the United States to monitor the entry of precursors.

For Rosa Iceland Rodríguez Durán’s mandate, which began last November, the meeting she had with John S. Creamer, charge d’affaires of the American embassy in Mexico, on February 18, stands out. Officials discussed items on the bilateral agenda and the entry of precursors for the manufacture of fentanyl, but without giving further details.

For its part, Secretary of Foreign Affairs He also did not make timely comments on coordinating with Chinese or US authorities on the fentanyl issue, as well as with the Directorate General of Customs under Horacio Duarte Olivares.

We also consulted Presidency but they declined to comment.

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