POLITICAL BRIDGE

Yesterday, the former Secretary of Public Security of Mexico, Genaro García Luna, was sentenced to 38 years in prison after being found guilty of charges of international conspiracy to distribute and import cocaine, for distribution and possession, organized crime and false statements. The sentence for the man who was in charge of the security strategy during the Felipe Calderón administration is a precedent for the new reality in terms of combating organized crime, both for Mexico and the United States. At the beginning of the year, the DEA mentioned in its annual report that the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel triggered the most dangerous and deadly crisis that the United States has ever faced due to the consumption of fentanyl and amphetamines. However, there is an issue that few talk about, but it is beginning to be an issue that alerts the still Joe Biden government: the formation and strength of cartels born and operating in the neighboring country to the north and the rest of the world. For the Mexican and American authorities, the high consumption of drugs in that country is a reality. According to the latest Monitoring the Future survey, carried out by the University of Michigan, the levels of consumption of marijuana and hallucinogens had historical figures in 2023 among adults aged 19 to 30 and 35 to 50 years. 42.4% of young adults reported having used cannabis while, on the side of hallucinogens, this reached 8.9% of users. Fentanyl consumption deserves special mention, as it has increased exponentially in recent years, with 70% of overdoses being caused by this drug. Although the DEA accuses only the Mexican cartels of operating clandestine laboratories to manufacture drugs in Mexico and then distribute them in the United States, the reality is that in the land of Mickey Mouse, the logistics, sales and control of the streets are handled by the local mafia. Ports, highways and air transport are key points for importing and exporting this type of product, so far from the DEA pointing to Mexico alone as the country that triggered the so-called dangerous crisis of fentanyl and amphetamine consumption in the US, the authorities of our main commercial partner know of the presence of powerful American cartels that control the sale and distribution of this type of drugs in the main cities. Marcelo Ebrard, currently Secretary of the Economy, denounced in the previous six-year term the manufacturers and distributors of American weapons for facilitating the trafficking of weapons for exclusive military use to the Mexican cartels, which has generated enormous human and material damages. After the sentence handed down in a Federal Court in New York, we do not doubt that García Luna, in an act of desperation to reduce his sentence, will reveal the names of high-ranking Mexican and American officials with whom he was in collusion. This undoubtedly confirms the new reality of the operations of international mafias in the local and international context. In the fight against drug cartels, the problem is no longer just Mexico’s, but has extended to the United States. Everyone is jointly responsible and everyone must attack the problem at its root.

Nota publicada originalmente en El Heraldo de México