US Ambassador: “heinous things” happen in Mexico and cannot continue

Cristopher Landau said it is “depressing” that after years of high-level meetings between the two countries there is still talk of illegal arms trafficking.

The US Ambassador to MexicoCristopher Landau, said they cannot continue the atrocities that occur in Mexico in terms of security.

In the presence of the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Alfonso Durazo, the American diplomat said that last Christmas he met a couple and that days later he learned that the son of both, 16 years old, had died because of A drug overdose.

“It is a very important problem. I know that also happens in Mexico. I read the headlines here in Mexico about some of the awful things that are happening here and we can not continue, “the US official said in his speech at the binational planning meeting and US-Mexico border security

Landau added that as societies “we cannot accept what is happening” and said that meetings between officials of both countries should not be to “speak anything else, we are here to give results.”

He added that it is “depressing” to see in historical archives that for 10 years there were high-level meetings between the governments of the United States and Mexico on the issue of arms trafficking.

“I don’t know what would have happened then, but it is urgent and for me, it is a passion to see how we can cooperate, not only in meetings and visits but in concrete actions,” he insisted.

Landau said he finds it “unproductive” to indicate whose responsibility is the trafficking of arms, money, and drugs between the two countries, as it is shared.

“We know that neither of our countries is safe when the other is not, and, precisely, the border is the common space where our cooperation should be most intense. Security is a shared challenge and a shared responsibility, ”he said.

He added that criminal groups have taken advantage of the “historical disagreements” of both nations in terms of insecurity.

After the meeting, the delegations of Mexico and the United States agreed to improve coordination to stop criminal groups engaged in arms trafficking.

Among the agreements, it is important to extend to 20, the points of review to detect the illegal passage of weapons where it is intended to locate firearms traffickers from the southern border and drugs along the northern border of Mexico, according to a statement from the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection.

The representatives of the two countries agreed on the need to strengthen, update, exchange information and evaluation visits, as part of the commitments to be developed in the short term by the working groups that participated, the official document added.

The meeting was attended by the Government of Mexico, the Ministry of Citizen Security and Protection, the Secretariat of National Defense, the Secretary of the Navy; Secretary of Foreign Relations; by the US Government, specialists from the US Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP), represented by Erik Moncayo and the US Embassy in Mexico.

Source: politica.expansion.mx

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