Mexican Standoff
28th March 2024
The number of Americans who die each year from an opioid overdose has exploded over the last two decades. Each year, over 70,000 Americans succumb to synthetic opioids, mainly fentanyl; that’s more than the total number of American soldiers who died during the Vietnam War. The rate of deaths per capita has quadrupled since the turn of the century.
Most of the fentanyl flooding the country is produced in Mexico by the cartels. These are the same cartels that also smuggle in weapons and traffic hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of people across the southern border. The cartels are able to act so freely and with such impunity because the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, known popularly as AMLO, has taken a laissez-faire approach to their dealings. AMLO has said he believes a “hugs not bullets” approach is the best way to deal with the cartels.
López Obrador recently reiterated his stance on not taking orders from America regarding combatting the drug cartels. Throughout his presidency, AMLO has provided various justifications for his approach of prioritizing dialogue over confrontation with these criminal organizations. He has emphasized that violence cannot be countered with more violence and has highlighted the importance of addressing the root causes of drug cartel violence such as poverty and limited opportunities. López Obrador explicitly states that his decision to refrain from pursuing the cartels aligns with his “Mexico First” policy, and that the issue of drug overdoses primarily affects the United States, not Mexico. In other words, your problem, not mine.