Mexico Asks China For Help On Shipments Of Fentanyl

Mexico’s president said on Tuesday he had written to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, urging him to help control shipments of fentanyl as he fended off criticism in the U.S. that Mexico is not doing enough to stop trafficking of the synthetic opioid.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador read out the letter to Xi dated March 22 in which he defended efforts to curb supply of the deadly drug, while rounding on U.S. critics, some of whom want Washington to intervene militarily in Mexico.

“We come to you, President Xi Jinping, not to ask for your support in the face of these rude threats, but to request that for humanitarian reasons, you help us control shipments of fentanyl that can be sent from China to our country,” he said.

Speaking at a news conference, Lopez Obrador said the letter took shape after a recent visit by U.S. lawmakers, in which they proposed he speak to China to” address the fentanyl threat.”

The Chinese embassy in Mexico did not have any immediate comment on the letter.

” Fentanyl has been blamed for fueling a surge in overdose deaths in the U.S., and Republican lawmakers especially have accused Mexico of failing to stop drug cartels producing and moving the powerful painkiller north.”

In his letter, Lopez Obrador asked Xi if he could provide Mexico with information on when and where fentanyl was being sent, as well as how much and by whom.

Lopez Obrador says fentanyl laboratories have sprung up in Mexico, and he told Xi that law enforcement had last year destroyed nearly 1,400 clandestine labs mixing the drug with other substances, and seized seven tonnes of it.

Reuters/Shakirat Sadiq