By
The Associated Press
The president of Mexico, Andrés López Obrador, affirmed this Friday that
families in the US are to blame for the fentanyl overdose crisis
because they do not hug their children enough.
The president's comment is the latest in a week of provocative assertions about the causes of the fentanyl crisis, a synthetic opioid trafficked by Mexican cartels that has been blamed for around 70,000 overdose deaths each year in the US. USA
López Obrador assured that family values were broken in the US because parents do not let their children live at home long enough.
He has also denied that Mexico produces fentanyl.
A baby dies after being poisoned by fentanyl in an Airbnb during her vacation in Florida
March 9, 202300:22
The Mexican president said on Friday during a meeting with the press that the problem was caused by "the lack of hugs, of apapachos [shows of affection].
"There is a lot of disintegration of families, there is a lot of individualism, there is a lack of love, of brotherhood, of hugs and cuddles," López Obrador commented on the crisis in the US.
"[In the US] there is a lot of disintegration of families, there is a lot of individualism, there is a lack of love," AMLO said.
"That's why [US officials] should be dedicating funds to address the causes," he said.
López Obrador has repeatedly said that Mexico's family values have saved them from having a wave of fentanyl overdoses.
Experts believe that the Mexican cartels are making a lot of money in the US market, so they do not need to sell in the local market.
Cartels often sell methamphetamine
in Mexico, where the drug is more popular
because it supposedly makes people work harder.
The Mexican president has been hit by calls in the US to name the Mexican drug cartels terrorist organizations.
Some Republicans have declared that they favor using the US military in the battle against these organizations.
Photograph provided by the Mexican Attorney General's Office shows a drug shipment in Puerto Libertad, Sonora, Mexico.
In the image, coconuts full of fentanyl that were in a truck. EFE
On Wednesday, López Obrador called anti-drug policies in the US a failure and proposed a ban on the use of fentanyl in medicines in both countries, although a very low percentage of that drug goes from hospitals to the illegal market.
US authorities estimate that most fentanyl is produced in clandestine laboratories in Mexico
, using precursor chemicals of Chinese origin.
The amount of fentanyl used in anesthetics for surgeries and other procedures that goes on the black market is relatively small.
[At its lowest point US-Mexico cooperation]
There have been only a few reports of fentanyl containers for medical use reaching the illegal market.
Most of that drug is compressed into pills by the Mexican cartels, to make them look like Xanax, Oxycodone or Percocet.