Following the kidnapping of four Americans and the murder of two, Mexican cartels delivered five men they say were responsible along with an apology letter.
Authorities believe the letter to be authentic.
“The [Gulf Cartel] apologizes to the society of Matamoros, the relatives of Ms. Areli, and the affected American people and families,” reads the handwritten letter, referring to a Mexican woman who was also killed in the shootout. “The Gulf Cartel, Scorpion Group, strongly condemns the events of last Friday,” the letter continues, referring to a division of the cartel. “For this reason, we decided to hand over those directly involved and responsible for the acts, who at all times acted under their own determination and indiscipline and against the rules in which the [Gulf Cartel] always operates.”
Following the kidnapping event, GOP lawmakers including Lindsey Graham and Dan Crenshaw urged the Biden administration to act, suggesting the U.S. take military action and target drug labs in Mexico. Republican senators have also introduced legislation to designate the Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations.
Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Thursday his country does not make or use fentanyl, and depicted the opioid epidemic largely as a U.S. problem.
“Here, we do not produce fentanyl, and we do not have consumption of fentanyl,” López Obrador said. “Why don’t they (the United States) take care of their problem of social decay?”
The Mexican government has admitted in the past that fentanyl is produced at labs in Mexico using chemicals imported from China.
President AMLO unapologetically rejected the Republican push for a military invasion of Mexico, and threatened to campaign against Republicans.
“We are not going to allow any foreign government to intervene and much less foreign armed forces to intervene in our territory,” López Obrador said at a news conference, adding that he would ask Americans of Mexican and Hispanic origin not to vote for Republicans if their “aggression” continued.
AP, Washington Post, CNN, NBC