President Andrés Manuel López Obrador hinted that the violence currently taking place in the state of Sinaloa was caused by a “bad decision” made from abroad, since during his administration “something like this never happened.”
During his speech at the inauguration ceremony of the irrigation zone of the “Santa María” dam, from El Rosario, Sinaloa, the still Mexican president said that he was in this northern state of the country after the US embassy issued a travel alert to the area due to the strong clashes that have been recorded in the last month.
“And that is why we are here, because the people from the United States embassy issued a notice: ‘Do not go to Sinaloa, do not go to Culiacán.’ Well, here we are to say: how can we not be here.”
He also assured that during his administration “there was never any problem” and that what is happening is due to a decision they made, alluding to the arrest in the United States of drug trafficker Ismael “Mayo” Zambada.
“And I trust that things will soon return to calm, because during the entire government we did not have any problem, it was in these last days, in these last months, because of a decision they made that was not correct and that was forged abroad. For that reason, we do not accept interference, we are not a colony, we are a free, independent, sovereign country.”
In this regard, AMLO spoke about how during the process of approving the reform of the National Guard, Marko Cortés, leader of the National Action Party (PAN) suggested classifying criminals as terrorists to have the support of foreign governments, indicating that “he sent it to hell because we are going to solve our problems here.”
“We do not want them to come from outside, because what guarantee? They can classify anyone as a terrorist and mess with their armies. And Mexico, I repeat, is a free, independent and sovereign country.” He emphasized.
López Obrador said that the Armed Forces are present in the state with two purposes to guarantee peace in Sinaloa: “The first purpose is to protect the people of Sinaloa, so that children and girls can go to school without fear, so that they can walk freely through the streets. That is the first thing, to guarantee peace. And the second, although it may seem contradictory, is to avoid confrontations, because we do not want anyone to lose their life.”
He also extended his recognition to the governor of Sinaloa, Rubén Rocha, who has been accused of having ties to organized crime, for facilitating the construction of this irrigation district, which was built in collaboration with military engineers to supply water to 42 thousand hectares for the benefit of agricultural producers in northern Nayarit.
US ambassador reiterates that it is not the fault of the US
The US ambassador, Ken Salazar, reiterated that the violence that has broken out in recent weeks in Sinaloa, which has left at least 53 dead, It is not the fault of his country, and that in reality this is a problem that the Mexican authorities have to “define” and “solve.”
“It is incomprehensible how the United States can be responsible for the massacres that we see in different places, such as what was seen in Morelos yesterday or what is being seen in Sinaloa, that is not the fault of the United States,” he said during a tour of Chihuahua, emphasizing that the reality is that there is a problem of insecurity and violence.
Source: infobae