Link to article: https://apnews.com/article/mexico-fentanyl-drug-seizure-76b274660df084dd36e57dc6c000d922
Between the last two raids in northern Mexico, soldiers of the Mexican military have seized over a ton of fentanyl pills. This achievement marks the biggest fentanyl catch in Mexico’s history. The pair of raids followed a steep drop in fentanyl seizures within Mexico in early 2024. They also took place only days after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump threatened to place 25% tariffs on goods from both Mexico and Canada. Trump said he would enforce these tariffs only if the two countries failed to heavily limit the flow of migrants and drugs across the borders. It has been viewed that the timing of the situation may not be a coincidence implying that the Mexican government has been managing the timing of their domestic fentanyl seizures. Many analysts feel that the pressure being imposed by Trump has caused President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration to increase the capture of drug traffickers and drug seizures to match Washington’s request.
Security analyst, David Saucedo, states that, “it’s clear that the Mexican government doesn’t see fentanyl as one of its own problems, and fighting it isn’t its priority.” He feels that there will only be big fentanyl busts will occur when there is continuous pressure from Washington. Mexican top security officials stated that in the northern state of Sinaloa, on late Tuesday (12/3), soldiers along with marines, spotted two men carrying guns into a couple of houses connected to a drug cartel. The soldiers pursued by following the two men, who ran into the houses. In one of the houses the soldiers discovered about 660 pounds of fentanyl. In the other one, they found a truck containing about 1,750 pounds of the drug along with multiple guns. It was ruled as the largest seizure in the history of fentanyl. In the past, Mexican security groups have used the story of following armed men as a reason to enter homes without search warrants. However, there has been at least one case where the government’s actions was disproved by security camera footage. This past wednesday (12/4), the U.S. State Department announced that it was increasing the reward for the leader of the Jalisco cartel, Nemesio Oseguera, from $10 million to $15 million. This shows Washington’s urgency when it comes to putting a stop the the flow of fentanyl and other lethal methamphetamines into the United States. It is also interesting that it seems that the mexican government is only putting effort into achieving drug seizures so that the country can avoid tariffs on their products which will harm their economy.