OPINION

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Photo: presdiencia.gob.mx

By THÉRÈSE MARGOLIS

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) may be opposed to policing the nation’s ever-expanding drug cartels, but it seems that the cartels themselves are willing to take on the job.

On Wednesday, March 22, the Sinaloa Cartel cartel whacked one of its own members, José Noriel “El Chueco” Portillo Gil, who allegedly killed two priests, a tour guide and another man in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua in June, as well as a U.S. citizen back in 2018.

The discovery of Portillo Gil’s body and the confirmation of his identity by his sister one day later, came on the heels of the turnover by the Gulf Cartel of five suspected members of its Scorpion faction tied up in a bow (or at least, tied up and gagged) and left in the streets of Matamoros. replete with a handwritten apology for their having “mistakenly” taken four American hostages as prisoners.

AMLO may not understand that the kidnaping and/or killing of U.S. citizens in Mexico does not sit well with the Joe Biden (or for that matter, any other U.S.) administration, but the cartels sure do, and they are willing to make “sacrifices” of their own ranks in order to appease the wrath of an angry northern neighbor.

Meanwhile, Mr. Hugs-not-Bullets continues with his verbal tirades against his not-too-distant Uncle Sam, adding fuel to an already-highly perilous bilateral diplomatic fire with unfounded and incredulous claims that Mexico has no human rights abuses (tell that to the 108,500 missing Mexicans and the more than 40 journalists who have died under his watch) and that Mexican organized crime groups are well in check.

From the looks of things, it is the cartels — and not the president — who are doling out punishment and keeping their members in line to implement some sense of the rules of law and order in the country.

That fact would tend to confirm the U.S. State Department’s claim that large swathes of Mexico are under the control of drug cartels.

All of which begs the question: Who is the real Mexican head of state?