“We have been waiting eight months for a visa,” claimed director Anne Milgram during an appearance before the US Congress.
MEXICO CITY (apro).- The US Anti-Drug Agency (DEA) accused the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador of delaying the issuance of visas so that elements of that corporation can work in Mexico.
DEA Director Anne Milgram testified Tuesday before the U.S. House Appropriations Committee about the DEA’s fiscal year 2025 budget request during a hearing in Washington.
The official thanked the committee for being invited to testify on National Fentanyl Awareness Day.
In that context, she explained that in 2022, almost 108,000 Americans lost their lives due to synthetic opioids. “42 percent of Americans now know someone who has died. “This tragedy has not saved cities, suburbs, rural communities or tribal lands.”
In response to a question from Republican Hal Rogers, the official announced the delay in issuing the visa and how this is affecting the fight against drug trafficking.
“We have been waiting eight months for a visa and we know the cost that means to us in terms of our ability to work. Time matters,” said Milgram when referring to the urgency to get those 13 Intelligence agents and analysts to enter Mexico.
The magazine Proceso published in its number 2346 on October 16, 2021 the report titled “Mexican agents in the US in exchange for visas for the DEA.” There it was reported that, during the first session of the High Level Security Dialogue between Mexico and the United States that year, the López Obrador government appealed to “reciprocity” to request that, in exchange for granting visas to 12 DEA agents , Washington allowed 12 Mexican agents to verify the fight against arms trafficking from US territory.
At the hearing, the DEA director discussed efforts to bring fentanyl traffickers to justice, including ongoing investigations and charges against members of the Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) drug cartels, as well as such as Chinese chemical companies.
According to C-SPAN, Milgram commented that the ubiquity of smartphones had changed the nature of drug and fentanyl trafficking: “people have pills delivered to their front door, like Uber Eats.”
Source: proceso
