By MARIA VERZA

MEXICO CITY (AP) — US Ambassador Ken Salazar He lashed out on Wednesday at Mexico’s refusal to accept aid in the fight against drug cartels, claiming the country was “closing the doors” on security cooperation.

At a news conference, Salazar delivered his harshest criticism yet of widespread violence, police corruption and the Mexican government’s misguided “no problem” stance.

“For them to just say, ‘It’s okay, we have these statistics to show people it’s okay,’ is not based in reality,” Salazar said. “There is a huge problem”

Mexico sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. embassy “expressing surprise” at Salazar’s statement, the Mexican Foreign Ministry said in a statement later Wednesday.

Salazar He referred to the recent violence for example in the northern state of Sinaloa. Sinaloa state police chief Gerardo Mérida said Wednesday that authorities found a pile of five to seven bodies on the side of the road there but were still counting the body parts to see how many there were.

“There is a pile of various bodies, with what we found we identified five bodies, but some were dismembered, dismembered, there is talk of seven bodies,” Mérida said.

Ruben Rocha, the embattled governor of Sinaloa. His declaration on Tuesday that “we are doing well, we will get over this soon” – after a similar number of bodies were dumped on the roadside – seemed typical of Mexico’s attitude.

Salazar responded by saying that in Sinaloa, “the dead can be seen everywhere.”

Salazar had previously defended many actions of the Mexican government, but now he is defending the actions of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. “Not shooting, but hugging” The strategy of not confronting the cartels “did not work.”

López Obrador left office on September 30, but his successor, President Claudia Sheinbaum, has vowed to continue the policy even under his own leadership Troops appear more willing to open fire.

A fight broke out between two factions of the Sinaloa drug cartel Two drug traffickers, one from each group, were flown to the United States and arrested there on July 25.

Drug lords Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López were arrested after flying to the United States on a small plane.

Zambada He later claimed that he was kidnapped and was forced to board the plane by Guzmán López, resulting in a violent confrontation between Zambada’s group and the “Chapitos” group, led by the sons of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán.

Mexico later accused the United States of detaining the capos, which it said caused violence to break out. Salazar said that Mexico also closed its anti-drug cooperation from now on.

“From there it completely accelerated, the Mexican government closed its doors,” Salazar said. The ambassador also criticized efforts by López Obrador and Sheinbaum to downplay the problem of crime and violence, claiming that the problem was exaggerated and crime statistics were falling.

Salazar did not explain why he thought the Mexican government’s figures were unreliable, but in recent days the government appears to have changed the way it reports homicide figures.

“This is the reality of the Mexican people, this is true for business people, for journalists like you who work on the streets, for those who own farms, for the cattle rancher who was killed in Sinaloa over the weekend because he was a leader. Live with security,” Salazar said.

The ongoing violence “is a very serious problem in Mexico, and saying there is no problem, blaming someone else, blaming the United States is of course not (the solution),” he continued.

He also accused López Obrador of rejecting “$32 million,” an apparent reference to López Obrador’s decision to withdraw from a U.S.-funded program to donate money to train and equip Mexican police.

“It was rejected due to ideological issues and other explanations,” Salazar said. López Obrador said at the time that he did not want US helicopters and weapons, but at this point most US money was going towards education, professionalization and legal reforms.

López Obrador after taking office in 2018 cutting funding for police forces and gave the army, navy, and militarized National Guard a leading role in law enforcement.

“The police are corrupt because they don’t earn enough to get by,” Salazar said. “You can’t pay a police officer next to nothing and expect them to do their job.”

Salazar was previously known for defending López Obrador. sustained efforts to militarize law enforcement, Concentrate power, eliminate regulatory and oversight bodies, and support Mexico’s government-run companies even at the expense of U.S. firms.

It was unclear whether the critical turn in his rhetoric on Wednesday was in any way related to Donald Trump’s victory in last week’s US presidential election. Trump has long been a harsh critic of Mexico.

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First Publication Date: November 14, 2024 04:29 PST