Recent corruption cases involving agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) demonstrate that the United States must also address its own responsibilities in the fight against drug trafficking, President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo noted on Tuesday during her regular press conference at the National Palace.
“We insist that they have a very important role to play there, rather than just singling out Mexico,” she stated when asked during her morning briefing whether the United States is doing “its part” regarding security cooperation. In this context, the president pointed to a recent case in which DEA agents were arrested for corruption.
The president emphasized that Washington has unresolved issues within its own territory. She recalled that the flow of fentanyl from Mexico “has dropped by more than 70 percent—a fact they themselves acknowledge”—and highlighted that methamphetamine is also produced in the United States (“so much so that there was a TV series about it”), noting further that distribution and money laundering take place there “because consumption is higher.”
The president highlighted that the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), Sara Carter, has acknowledged the need to treat drug use as a public health issue.
Regarding Carter, she noted that the official “recently released a document… a very interesting one, because in it, for the first time, they acknowledge the need to address drug use as a national public health policy.”
She added that Carter had visited Mexico and taken an interest in the measures being implemented in the country to address the root causes of violence and prevent drug use—such as the “Boxing for Peace” (*Boxeando por la Paz*) program—and planned to return soon, as she was also interested in the “Mexico Sings” (*México Canta*) program in the United States. “I don’t know how much progress has been made, but at least there is now some recognition,” he stated, comparing that stance to the anti-drug campaign led by Nancy Reagan in the 1980s: “Now it is Sara Carter who acknowledges it.”
