Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard criticized former U.S. Attorney General William Barr's statements on Friday, who called for U.S. military intervention in Mexico to confront drug gangs, stating that Mexico "will never allow violations of its sovereignty." This came in response to an opinion piece published by Barr in the Wall Street Journal last week. Ebrard emphasized the importance of mutual cooperation between the two countries in his response to the newspaper.
In the article, Barr compared Mexico's "terrorist drug gangs" to the Islamic State and supported a Republican proposal to grant the U.S. president the authority to send military forces to combat these gangs. Ebrard responded by stating that "the insatiable demand for drugs in the United States, along with the widespread availability of military-style weapons there, largely explains the gangs' ability to create chaos."
In recent days, calls for U.S. intervention in Mexico have intensified following the killing of two Americans and the kidnapping of others in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas, allegedly by a drug gang. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador rejected the calls for U.S. intervention on Thursday, describing them as "irresponsible."
The Mexican foreign minister stated that the proposal from the former U.S. attorney general, who served under Donald Trump, "would lead to more violence and victims on both sides of the border" and undermine cooperation between the countries. He confirmed that the partners are already working on developing a framework to address the production of synthetic drugs, especially fentanyl. He added, "We need an effective drug policy, and the illegal flow of weapons to Mexico must stop."
