LONDON (AP) – The UK’s ambassador to Mexico has left his post after a video was posted on social media that purportedly shows him pointing an assault rifle near a colleague.
The Financial Times reported Friday that Jon Benjamin was traveling in Sinaloa and Durango, two states in northern Mexico where drug cartels have a significant presence, when the incident occurred.
The video posted on the social media platform X shows a man who looks like Benjamin seated in the front seat of a vehicle, when he picks up the supposed rifle and points it at the back seat. The five-second clip was posted by an anonymous user along with the message, “In a context of daily killings in Mexico by drug dealers, he dares to joke.”
While the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office hasn’t officially announced any changes at the embassy in Mexico City, the FCDO website lists him as a former ambassador.
“We are aware of this incident and have taken appropriate action,” the Foreign Office said in a statement released in response to questions about the reported incident. “Where internal issues do arise the FCDO has robust HR processes to address them.”
Rachel Brazier has been charge d’affaires at the embassy since April, a role in which a diplomat serves as an embassy’s chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador.