China Claims It Has No Illicit Fentanyl Trade with Mexico

China’s government publicly claimed that it has no illicit Fentanyl trade with Mexico and it is up to the U.S. to stop its current opioid crisis. The statement from China comes days after Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador made international headlines by claiming that his country was not a producer of Fentanyl and it was up to the U.S. and not him to stop the flow from other countries.

Late last month, AMLO sent a letter to Chinese President Xi-Jinping asking for help in stopping the flow of drugs from China to Mexico. The Mexican politician defended a series of public statements claiming that his country does not manufacture fentanyl, thus placing the blame on China for all of the fentanyl that moves through Mexico and reaches the U.S.

This week the Chinese government responded claiming that there is no illegal fentanyl trade with Mexico. Chinese Government Spokesman Mao Ming claimed that Mexico’s government has not notified them about any seizures of Fentanyl that came from China. During a news conference, the official claimed that the issue with Fentanyl was up to the U.S. to strengthen its borders and reduce demand for the drug.

While fentanyl has legitimate medical uses, drug cartels have turned to it due to its low cost as a way to further increase the potency of their other drugs. The cartels are able to further dilute drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and others.

Despite AMLO’s claims about Mexico not being a producer of the drug, Mexican authorities have raided clandestine labs used to manufacture the drug. Currently, factions from both the Sinaloa Cartel and Cartel Jalisco New Generation are the main U.S. distributors and also producers of the drug in Mexico.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com. 

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.