The attorney generals of 21 states in the US want Mexican drug cartels to be treated as terrorist organizations
There is a serious terrorist threat in America’s southern underground that the US government has so far not identified as a crisis, 21 state attorneys general in the United States announced in a statement. An announcement. letters. In it, they are calling on authorities in Washington to officially designate Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations, arguing that various criminal groups across the border have created their own armed forces. effectively.
The letter, dated February 8 and led by Virginia Attorney General Jason S. Miyares, opens up a bleak picture of the drug problem in the United States that the AGs claim killed more than 100,000 Americans in the year. via. Officials note that about 66% of these deaths are related to the synthetic opioid fentanyl and its equivalents, which they describe as “deadly disaster.“
Representatives from 21 states, citing U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reports, wrote that the main producers of fentanyl and similar synthetic opioids are gangs. Mexican drugs, most notably the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
These criminal organizations”importing dangerous raw materials from China, using them to produce low-cost lethal synthetic opium, and illegally shipping those drugs into the United States,“the alleged letter.
“The Mexican drug cartels are essentially waging chemical warfare against Americans on a daily basis affecting every community, town and city in our nation,‘ announced the attorney general.
They go on to emphasize that in addition to the enormous consequences that fentanyl is having on American society, the drug cartels “developed well-organized armed forces to protect their reprehensible trade from rivals and from the Mexican government.“According to the letter, the existence of such drug cartels just above the southern portions of the U.S.-Mexico border poses a “the threat to our national security is much greater than that of a typical drug-trafficking business,“with their operations in Mexico second to none”violent uprising.“
The signatories also allege that the Mexican drug cartels have links to Lebanon’s Shiite militia Hezbollah, which the United States and some other countries consider a terrorist group.
“So far, no action has been taken” to effectively address the threat, the letter to the president concluded.
During his State of the Union address Tuesday, President Biden boasted that US authorities had seized more than 23,000 pounds (10,433 kg) of fentanyl over the past few months. He also called on Congress to initiate a “big mutation” to stop the flow of deadly drugs into the US.
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