The head of the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Anne Milgram, complained to the Senate that the United States government receives bear minimum cooperation from Mexico in exchanging information on seizures of fentanyl and chemical precursors, to allow the joint destruction of clandestine laboratories and the arrest and extradition of drug traffickers.
Before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Milgram maintained that the DEA’s main international operational priority is to defeat the Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) cartels, for being “responsible for promoting the epidemic of drugs in the United States.”
“Those two cartels dominate the entire international supply chain for fentanyl. They start in China, where they are buying precursor chemicals to make fentanyl; then they take those chemicals to Mexico, where they mass-produce fentanyl, first powder and then fake prescription pills,” he told the senators. “DEA is focusing its resources to counter this global threat,” he remarked.
Milgram revealed the creation of two task forces made up of 332 special agents in 66 countries, including intelligence analysts, data scientists, and experts in illicit chemistry and finance, since, he assured, the two cartels operate in 40 countries, including the United States. “We are now seizing fentanyl in all 50 states of the country and it is the biggest drug threat the United States has ever faced in its history,” he said.
Before the senators, the head of the DEA complained that in the case of Mexico “we are not obtaining information on fentanyl seizures. We are not obtaining information on seizures of chemical precursors and that type of information is vital for both countries.”
Secondly, the official said, “we are very concerned about clandestine laboratories in Mexico. And we have offered and continue to offer to work in partnership with Mexican authorities to jointly dismantle and demolish those clandestine laboratories throughout Mexico.”
Finally, she mentioned the trial of Genaro García Luna in New York and said she would like Mexico to arrest and extradite more drug traffickers to the United States.
The committee’s chairman, Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez, seconded Milgram’s complaint, saying he sees no willingness from the Mexican government to confront the fentanyl crisis. “I don’t know how many more lives have to be lost for Mexico to commit,” he said.
In written testimony to the Senate committee, Milgram revealed that the Sinaloa Cartel already operates in 15 of the 32 states of the Mexican territory, while the CJNG is in 21. “The business model used by the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels is to grow at all costs, no matter how many people die in the process. They are engaging in deliberate and calculated treason to mislead Americans and fuel addiction for greater profits,” she stated.
According to the DEA, it costs Mexican cartels as little as 10 cents to produce a single counterfeit fentanyl, which sells in the United States for between $10 and $30 a pill.
The head of the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Anne Milgram, complained to the Senate that the United States government receives bear minimum cooperation . . .
