Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s portrayal of her country as a center of drug cartel activity.
At a news conference in Mexico City, Sheinbaum responded to Trump’s remarks at the United Nations General Assembly and pointed to the high level of drug consumption in the United States and the large scale of weapons production there.
Sheinbaum said she could discuss the challenges posed by the high level of illicit drug use in the neighboring country or the scale of weapons production there, but would not do so.
Sheinbaum said she supported maintaining good relations with Trump and the U.S. administration, adding that the two countries would continue working in coordination. The Mexican president stressed that Mexico’s sovereignty must be respected.
Trump’s cartel characterization at the UN
In his speech at the United Nations General Assembly, Trump described cartels operating in Latin America as “the ISIS of the Western Hemisphere.” The U.S. president portrayed Mexico as the center of these groups’ activities.
The United States accuses the Sinaloa Cartel of being one of the main suppliers of the synthetic opioid fentanyl. The U.S. side claims that fentanyl causes the deaths of 100,000 people in the country each year.