Mexico Asks China to Help in Curbing Fentanyl Production

Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Tuesday asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to help in stopping chemicals from China used by Mexican drug cartels to illegally produce fentanyl.

The Associated Press reported that Lopez Obrador also criticized the "rude" efforts of the United States to reduce drug trafficking.

Fentanyl is America's problem that stems from "a lack of hugs" in American families, according to the Mexican President.

He reiterated these points on Tuesday but took it a step further, complaining in a letter to Xi about "rude threats" made by American lawmakers regarding the drug trade.

Lopez Obrador was unhappy with the demands in the U.S. to label Mexican drug cartels as terrorist groups. Many conservatives in the Republican Party have voiced support for sending U.S. troops to put down the drug gangs in Mexico.

"Unjustly, they are blaming us for problems that largely have to do with their loss of values, their welfare crisis," the Mexican president wrote to Xi in the letter published Tuesday.

He added that "these positions are in themselves a lack of respect and a threat to our sovereignty, and moreover they are based on an absurd, manipulative, propagandistic and demagogic attitude."

After venting, Lopez Obrador finally brought up China's exports of fentanyl precursors. He asked the Chinese president to help cease shipments of chemicals that Mexican drug cartels buy from China.

U.S. Republicans Accuse Mexico of Failing to Stop Mexican Drug Cartels Producing Fentanyl

Fentanyl has been blamed for a rise in overdose deaths in the United States, and Republican legislators have blamed Mexico for failing to stop Mexican drug cartels from producing and moving the drug north.

In his letter, the Mexican president asked Xi Jinping if he could give Mexico details on when and where fentanyl was being sent, how much, and by whom, Reuters reported.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador claimed that fentanyl labs have sprung up in Mexico and told Xi that Mexican law enforcement agencies demolished nearly 1,400 clandestine labs last year that were mixing fentanyl with other substances, seizing seven tonnes of it.

However, Lopez Obrador noted that fentanyl is not produced in Mexico and that cartels import it from Asia. He said only 30% of the drugs entering the U.S. come from Mexico.

The U.S. government disputes the notion that Mexico is not a source of fentanyl, claiming that large-scale production of the opioid takes place in the country using chemicals imported primarily from China.

Fentanyl Production in Mexico

Mexican drug cartels manufacture most illegal fentanyl, cut into other illicit drugs like heroin and cocaine, or sell as fake pills that appear like Xanax, oxycodone, or Percocet.

About 70,000 overdose fatalities a year in the U.S. have been linked to fentanyl use, and they were not even aware that they were consuming the drugs, according to The Guardian.

Mexican drug cartels reportedly do not sell fentanyl in Mexico because they make so much money in the U.S., according to experts.

Lindsey Graham, a U.S. Republican senator, has been at the forefront of putting pressure on Mexico. On Monday, he said he would introduce fentanyl legislation that would label Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.

Foreign Minister of Mexico Marcelo Ebrard responded to Graham's criticism on Tuesday, saying that Americans make up most of those arrested in the U.S. for fentanyl trafficking.

Unlike other countries, Mexico is "doing as much" to combat fentanyl trade to the United States, Ebrard said.

This is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: From China to Mexico, U.S.: How Fentanyl Is Trafficked - From NewsNation