Dr. Vanda Felbab-Brown expressed her concerns regarding the Mexican government's approach towards criminal groups, including drug cartels involved in the production and transportation of fentanyl into the United States. She stated that the government is "unwilling and uninterested" in pursuing these groups. These comments were made during her testimony at a hearing titled, "Strengthening International Cooperation to Stop the Flow of Fentanyl into the United States" before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on March 15.
"Mexico eviscerated cooperation to a bare minimum because President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's administration has been unwilling and uninterested in mounting any serious law enforcement policy toward Mexican criminal groups," said Vanda Felbab-Brown, Senior Fellow. "Mexico continues to calculate that it can get away with only sporadic, minimal, and inadequate counternarcotics collaboration as long as it leverages its ability to hamper or permit the flow of undocumented migrants to the U.S.-Mexico border and as long as the United States depends on it for migration control."
In her testimony, Felbab-Brown emphasized that China and Mexico play crucial roles in controlling the supply of fentanyl. She stated, "Unfortunately the United States has found establishing counternarcotics cooperation with both countries deeply challenging."
Felbab-Brown also attributed the deterioration of US-Mexico cooperation to the López Obrador administration in Mexico. She said, "López Obrador’s false claims that no fentanyl is consumed in Mexico and his opposition to the provision of the overdose medication naloxone undermines the credibility and effectiveness of Mexico’s leadership in that area." She further criticized López Obrador for denying that fentanyl is produced in his country and accused Mexico of taking minimal action to appease the US.
She also argued that López Obrador’s policies have empowered Mexican criminal groups while hindering U.S. intervention efforts. According to Felbab-Brown, his strategy of "hugs, not bullets" clearly indicates "López Obrador simply does not want to confront the criminal groups with force." She pointed out how Mexico's policy towards cartels has allowed them to diversify their operations beyond illegal substances production and trafficking, infiltrating "legal economies." This expansion has resulted in increased revenue and political power for these cartels. Consequently, she suggested that merely seizing drugs is insufficient; instead, she urged the U.S. to counter every economic activity involving these Mexican criminal groups.
Dr. Vanda Felbab-Brown is a senior fellow at the Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology within the Foreign Policy program at Brookings, according to the Brookings Institute website. She also heads the Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors and holds a doctorate in political science from MIT.
