Senior Biden administration officials on Friday disputed a claim made by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador about the country’s fentanyl production.
López Obrador has repeatedly deflected blame away from Mexico’s fentanyl production, saying in March, “Here, we do not produce fentanyl, and we do not have consumption of fentanyl.”
One senior Biden official told reporters he was in Mexico “two weeks ago” and that he was taken to “two production facilities.”
“It was clear from both of those trips that they know production synthesizing is going on in Mexico, and I think they recognized that while they were here as well,” the official said. (RELATED: Biden Admin Collaborates With Mexico, Which Denies Role In Fentanyl Crisis, To Curb Drug Trafficking)
“I don’t know what information the president has, the President of Mexico has, but our information clearly indicates what we saw on the ground, and in our meetings both in Mexico and here in Washington, we don’t spend a lot of time talking about that because we understand that the evidence is clear and we know what’s going on,” the official added.
A US Customs and Border Protection agent searches an automobile for contraband in the line to enter the United States at the San Ysidro Port of Entry on October 2, 2019 in San Ysidro, California. (Photo by SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP via Getty Images)
Biden administration officials welcomed Mexican officials to the White House on Thursday to discuss countering fentanyl trafficking and consumption and combating arms trafficking, the White House said in a statement.
The U.S. and Mexico agreed to a bilingual public awareness program to counter fentanyl use.
“As a first step, the two countries will convene a binational panel of experts to share information and best practices on evidence-based substance use and overdose prevention campaigns among U.S. and Mexican public health experts,” the joint statement reads.
The Mexican government did not respond to an inquiry from the Daily Caller.