Mexico's leftist president tries to extort America, demanding policy concessions and cash for help with border

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has roughly six months left in office. It appears in that time, he will continue to alienate the U.S. and curry favor with his country's terroristic cartels.

Obrador revealed Friday that he won't combat Mexican drug cartels at the request of the American government, suggesting that doing so would run contrary to his "Mexico First" policy.

This announcement and the disturbing insinuations that accompanied it come just weeks after Obrador underlined what he expects from the U.S. in exchange for Mexico's cooperation in remedying the crisis at the border.

Mexico's fault, America's problem

According to the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics, drug overdose deaths are up 30% year over year. There are over 96,700 fatal drug overdoses every year, 72% of which are from opioids.

Much of that fatal opioid supply comes from Mexico. Often using precursors provided by the communist Chinese, Mexican cartels manufacture and traffic the drugs over the porous U.S.-Mexico border.

Obrador nevertheless suggested Friday that the drugs are a uniquely American problem, not a Mexican problem, reported the Associated Press.

The leftist president has repeatedly emphasized that demand, not supply, is the problem.

Last year, Obrador suggested the fentanyl crisis was caused by a "lack of hugs, of embraces."

"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 embraces," said Obrador. "That is why they [U.S. officials] should be dedicating funds to address the causes."

After displacing blame over the opioid crisis once again, Obrador said in an interview with CBS News' "60 Minutes" Friday, "We are not going to act as policemen for any foreign government."

"Mexico first. Our home comes first," said Obrador.

The outgoing president added, "Of course we are going to cooperate in fighting drugs, above all because it has become a very sensitive, very sad humanitarian issue, because a lot of people are dying in the United States because of fentanyl."

While Obrador provided a nationalistic rationale for not helping the U.S. tackle the cartels, he might have less noble reasons for failing to tackle his country's criminal elements.

Cartel links

The New York Times reported last month that American law enforcement officials have looked into allegations that elements of Obrador's regime have met with and taken millions of dollars from drug cartels — allegations the leftist president has called "completely false."

While it has long been understood that the cartels have infiltrated the Mexican state, it is unclear how far the corruption extends. One informant reportedly told U.S. investigators that Obrador's closest confidants met with Ismael Zambada García, a senior leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel, before the Mexican president's 2018 electoral victory.

Another informant told the investigators that following Obrador's election, the funder of the Zetas cartel gave the leftist president's allies $4 million in hopes of getting freed from prison.

One source claimed to have videos of the president's son picking up drug money.

There have been other allegations, including those detailed by ProPublica, that drug traffickers poured millions of dollars into Obrador's first campaign in return for him turning a blind eye to their operations while in power. Obrador coincidentally campaigned on a "hugs, not bullets" approach to the drug war and has advocated against "demonizing" the cartels.

Extortion

Earlier this month, the New York Times reported that Obrador expects the Biden administration to confer legal status upon at least 5 million illegal aliens from Mexico presently residing in the U.S. His demands did not stop at amnesty for those flouting American immigration law.

Obrador also expects the Biden administration to call off its sanctions against Venezuela, lift the blockade against Cuba, and pour $20 billion every year into Latin American and Caribbean countries.

The Mexican regime, which announced last week it would refuse to accept deportees from Texas, has demonstrated in recent months that it is capable of damming the northward flood of illegal aliens.

CBS News reported that after over 250,000 illegal aliens stormed across the U.S.-Mexico border in December, Biden asked Mexico to contain the flow of migrants. Temporarily obliging the U.S. government, Mexico managed to help bring down the number of border crossings by 50%.

Obrador told "60 Minutes" that Mexico managed this reduction by being "more careful" about its own southern border as well as by asking the Cuban and Venezuelan regimes to help curb the flow of migrants.

Mexico reportedly also increased patrols at the border, deported migrants, and flew others to the south of the country. These efforts apparently were short-lived, as border-crossing numbers have recently begun to significantly spike again.

When pressed on what will happen if he does not get his way, Obrador told "60 Minutes" that "the flow of migrants will continue."

In addition to threatening to continue unlawfully exporting migrants to the U.S., Obrador claimed former President Donald Trump's threats to close the border and finish the border wall — a wall now supported by the majority of Americans — amounted to bluffs "because he needs Mexico."

Some American lawmakers were prickled by Obrador's threat.

Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wisc.) wrote, "Mexico's corrupt leader is not our friend."

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) tweeted, "This is a war. He is basically saying either we meet his demands or the invasion continues."

Voters will soon have an opportunity to test Obrador's theory about whether Trump is bluffing about walling off the border. Trump has also contemplated doing what Obrador appears unwilling to do: Use military force to reduce the cartels to ash.

Trump is not the only Republican who has advocated for exterminating Mexican drug traffickers with extreme prejudice.

Reps. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) and Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) introduced a resolution last year that would "authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against those responsible for trafficking fentanyl or a fentanyl-related substance into the United States or carrying out other related activities that cause regional destabilization in the Western Hemisphere."

The resolution did not advance in the previously Democrat-controlled Congress.

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