• "We will not allow ourselves to be pushed around," says Secretary Ebrard to the ambassador and 52 consuls in the U.S.

This afternoon, on the instructions of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard met in Washington, D.C. with Ambassador Esteban Moctezuma and the 52 Mexican consuls in the U.S., telling them to begin a widespread information campaign in defense of our country after the unacceptable attacks by legislators and former officials of the Republican Party. 

At the meeting, Secretary Ebrard and the consuls reviewed the recent attacks by several legislators and former Republican Party officials, who have sought to blame Mexico for the fentanyl crisis in the U.S. and who have in some cases gone to the extreme of proposing that the U.S. intervene in our country.

“We are not going to allow Mexico to be pushed around,” Foreign Secretary Ebrard told the 52 consuls gathered at the Mexican Cultural Institute.

Mexico has been the United States' main ally in the fight against fentanyl, said the Foreign Secretary.  Proof of this is that, so far in this administration, Mexico has seized a record amount of the drug—more than six tons—that has prevented hundreds of thousands of potentially deadly doses of fentanyl.

The fight against fentanyl trafficking, he added, has meant hundreds of casualties for Mexico's federal forces. "With this cost in human lives, how is it that these men dare to question our commitment or, even worse, to call for intervention in our country?" 

In order to prevent a narrative based on lies that harms our country to gain force, Foreign Secretary Ebrard asked the ambassador and consuls to hold informative meetings with the Mexican community and political actors, and to submit a weekly report. At the request of the consuls, informational materials will be made available at the consulates and provided to the local media.

Mexico promotes cooperation

Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said that, far from taking extreme positions, the governments of Mexico and the United States are working within the Bicentennial Framework to both prevent deaths from fentanyl and prevent criminal groups from gaining access to high-powered firearms. 

The Foreign Secretary said that there will be a meeting in Washington, D.C. in April between the security cabinets of both countries to identify additional ways to cooperate in the fight against arms and fentanyl trafficking.

The national security authorities do not have a record of fentanyl production in Mexico, but rather see our country as one through which the opioid and its precursor chemicals, which come mainly from Asia, are trafficked.

Foreign Secretary Ebrard explained that, in the current administration, Mexico has followed a strategy based on:

  1. Tightening the legal and regulatory framework 
  2. Scaling up the supervision and surveillance mechanisms used for controlled or dual-use substances 
  3. Increasing the personnel and surveillance at land and seaports and customs facilities, and throughout Mexican territory 
  4. Expanding public health services and attention to mental disorders.

The Foreign Secretary highlighted that, to increase control, it was determined that the ports would be administered by the Navy and the customs facilities by the Army.

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