Mexico: Drug Cartels Say They'll Cease Violence if Allowed to Go Into Legal Economy

One Mexican politician revealed that he is acting as a middleman between Mexico's government and drug cartels prompting the rise of violence due to drug trafficking.

Manuel Espino Barrientos said that the only option to stop violence is for the government to strike a peace deal with Mexican drug cartels. Espino is a federal congressman from the ruling party MORENA.

Espino said he handed out a proposal to Interior Secretary Adán Augusto López to reach a pact with some of the Mexican drug cartels, and only two of them reached back to him.

The two Mexican drug cartels said, "if this is really happening, we are in," according to Espino.

However, the Mexican lawmaker did not detail which cartels reached out or which two agreed to the proposal.

He added that he will not reveal more as it could "jeopardize the talks," noting that "this kind of thing always works out."

Espino cited Ciudad Juarez, El Salvador, and Colombia, where peace talks worked out.

Manuel Espino Barrientos' Plans for Mexico's Drug Cartels

The former Mexican lawmaker shared that he told the Secretary of the Interior that the strategy of freezing accounts and taking money from criminal groups is not the proper route.

Espino said money has similar effect as tequila has to people, noting that it is neither good nor bad, as reported by El Universal.

He also noted that the lesser evil is to dialogue with the criminal groups and agree with them while taking into account their interests.

Espino also said that if the government were to agree with the peace deal, they would give drug cartels an assurance to integrate into the legal economy.

As a result, the Mexican drug cartels will stop working on all illegal activities, according to Espino.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador denied during his daily morning conference that Mexico has a pact with Mexican drug cartels.

Lopez Obrador said the limits are very clear, noting that one side remains the authority and on the other, the criminals.

Mexico's Spike in Violence

Most of the violence in Mexico is driven by Mexican drug cartels who produce methamphetamine, fentanyl, and heroin, then trafficking it to the United States.

Mexico's government has implemented several security force deployments over the years but has been unable to gain an upper hand against criminal groups.

Lopez Obrador created the country's National Guard in 2019 to fill in the gaps in some cases and replace Mexico's federal police.

The Mexican president noted that the country's federal police were "hopelessly corrupt and ineffective."

A new study noted that local media outlets report an average of 17 atrocities, which is defined as "the intentional use of force to severely abuse, maim, kill, or provoke terror."

In the first half of 2022, the study found 5,463 victims from 3,123 events in a total of 2,657 news articles. It was considered to be an 18% increase compared to the same period in 2021.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Manuel Espino revela que trabaja en propuesta de diálogo entre grupos criminales y gobierno federal - from El Universal