MEXICO CITY, (Reuters) – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador yesterday denied that parts of his country are controlled by drug cartels, responding to recent comments from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Blinken said in a congressional hearing on Wednesday that it was “fair to say” that parts of the country were controlled by cartels instead of the government.
“That is false,” Lopez Obrador said in a regular news conference. “There is no place in the country that does not have the presence of authorities.”
Blinken had also said that the opioid fentanyl coming from Mexico was killing both Americans and Mexicans. Lopez Obrador has denied in recent days that Mexico is responsible for the quantities of the drug coming into the United States.
“More fentanyl reaches the United States and Canada directly than reaches Mexico,” Lopez Obrador said last week. The comments also follow a report from the U.S. State Department which said credible evidence existed of human rights abuses such as killings by officials, government-led disappearances and torture in Mexico.
Lopez Obrador had rejected the findings, calling the department “liars” on Thursday.