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Latin American alert: Imminent risk of a fentanyl crisis?

Latin American alert: Imminent risk of a fentanyl crisis?
Photo: Reuters

November 29 |

On the streets, fentanyl is known as “King Ivory”, “White Chiva”, “Tango” or “Murder 8”. This synthetic opioid, which authorities claim is up to 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine, has raised red flags in Latin America, raising the possibility of facing its own fentanyl crisis.

Brian Clark, a special agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), describes it as the cause of the most devastating drug crisis in U.S. history. Its ease of manufacture, low cost and high lethality make it a significant threat.

In this context, Lisa Monaco, U.S. Assistant Attorney General, highlights the key feature of fentanyl that contributes to its dangerousness: it is fully synthetic and its supply is potentially unlimited.

The increase in fentanyl seizures in Latin America is alarming, reports InSight Crime. Countries such as Costa Rica, Argentina, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Brazil and Venezuela have been affected by this growing trend.

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Argentina experienced a significant case last year in which a mixture of cocaine and an extremely strong type of fentanyl resulted in the death of 24 people in 24 hours, according to Candice Welsch, regional representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Given this scenario, the question arises: Is it imperative for the region to take immediate preventive measures?

Experts highlight the importance of comparing the illicit use of fentanyl between Latin America and other regions, as well as its origin. While in the United States the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels are responsible for the flow of fentanyl, in South America the problem lies more in the diversion of medical fentanyl into illicit channels, rather than its illegal production, according to Julian Quintero, a researcher at ATS Corporation.

The presence of other synthetic drugs in the region, such as tusi, ecstasy and ketamine, poses an ongoing challenge and could facilitate the expansion of fentanyl in an already receptive market, warns Welsch.

While experts consider it unlikely that illegal fentanyl produced in Mexico will be widely distributed in Latin America, they urge not to underestimate its presence. The region does not have a marked history of opioid use as in the United States, but Quintero notes that the trend in consumption is toward stimulants.

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Faced with these challenges, experts emphasize the importance of implementing preventive measures in the region, suggesting strengthening the legislative framework and preparing adequately to face a possible arrival of fentanyl. Expertise in substance testing, supervised consumption rooms and community education are essential tools to mitigate the risks associated with this dangerous substance.

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International

China shows at the UN its “condemnation” of Israel for the “violation of Iran’s sovereignty”

The Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, Fu Cong, showed the “condemnation” of his country against the “violation of the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Iran” after the air attack launched by Israel against multiple targets in that country, the official newspaper Diario del Pueblo reports this Saturday.

That media echoes Fu’s speech to the UN Security Council on Friday, in which he demanded that Israel “immediately stop all its military actions.”

“China (…) opposes the expansion of conflicts, and is deeply concerned about the serious consequences that may arise from Israel’s actions. The intensification of regional tensions does not interest any of the parties involved,” said the Chinese emissary.

Beijing called on Tel Aviv and Tehran to “resolve their disputes through political and diplomatic means, and maintain peace and stability at the regional level jointly.”

In Fu’s view, the Israeli attack will have a “negative impact” on the negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program: “China has always been committed to the peaceful resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue through dialogue and consultations, and opposes the use of force, illegal unilateral sanctions and armed attacks on peaceful nuclear facilities.”

This Friday, China had already expressed its willingness to “play a constructive role” to curb the escalation of tensions and facilitate conciliation, in line with its traditional position of active neutrality in the region’s conflicts.

The Israeli attack, which according to Tehran caused dozens of deaths, including senior military commanders and at least six nuclear scientists, targeted key facilities such as the uranium enrichment plant in Natanz. Numerous civilian casualties were also reported.

Israel justified the offensive by claiming that the Iranian regime is secretly developing a program to manufacture nuclear weapons.

For his part, Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, promised a “severe response” and assured that the attack would reveal the “evil nature” of Israel.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres also expressed concern about the bombing, at a time when Iran and the US The United States is holding talks about the Iranian nuclear program.

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International

Donald Trump’s government pauses its program of indiscriminate raides against migrants

The government of US President Donald Trump has decided to pause its campaign of discretionary roundings against migrants in certain areas due to its apparent concern about the growing unpopularity of these methods, according to The New York Times newspaper on Friday.

According to an email to which the newspaper has had access and the confirmation of US officials, the Executive has ordered the Immigration and Customs Control Service (ICE) to pause the beatings that affect the agricultural industry and the hospitality industry.

The spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, confirmed in a statement that “the president’s instructions” will be obeyed and the portfolio will also continue to “work to get the worst illegal foreign criminals out of the streets of the United States.”

The decision points out that this campaign of discretionary arrests to try to deport large-scale immigrants is harming industries and electoral constituencies whose support Trump wants to retain for next year’s legislative elections.

The new instructions were transmitted to ICE in an email sent last Thursday asking that “all investigations/law enforcement operations be suspended in work centers in the agricultural sector (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants and hotels.”

These new guidelines come in turn after more than a week of intense protests in Los Angeles against this immigration policy and that Trump himself admitted that the raids seem to be affecting the agricultural sector, which in states like California, where beatings have intensified, depend almost exclusively on immigrant labor.

Since his return to the White House in January, Trump has implemented an aggressive policy of hard hand against immigration and as a sample of his Cabinet officials recently held a meeting with the ICE leadership to order them to carry out 3,000 arrests a day, a mandate that seems to be behind the intensification of the raids.

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Trump says he knew “everything” about the attack on Iran and assures that the dialogue remains open

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Washington “known everything” about the Israeli attack on Iran and that the dialogue on Tehran’s nuclear program “is not dead.”

“We knew everything and I tried to avoid Iran all this humiliation and death. I tried hard to avoid it because I would have loved to see an agreement,” Trump said in an interview with Reuters.

The US president insisted on what he wrote today about the attack on social networks, where he said he gave an ultimatum of 60 days to Tehran to reach an agreement.

“We knew practically everything. We knew enough to give Iran 60 days to reach an agreement and today it is already 61 days,” he explained in the interview, in which he said he did not know what the current situation of the Iranian nuclear program is after the attack launched by Israel, which also ended the lives of key military leaders of the Persian country.

Regarding the dialogue between the US and Iran about the nuclear program of the ayatollahs, Trump assured that “he is not dead”, that “an agreement is still possible” and also recalled that on Sunday a sixth round of dialogue is scheduled in Muscat (Oman) that they consider is now in the air.

“We have a meeting with them on Sunday. Now, I’m not sure if that meeting will take place, but we have a meeting with them on Sunday,” he said.

The United States and Iran have held five rounds of talks on the Iranian nuclear program since April, with Washington demanding that Tehran discard its capabilities both to manufacture an atomic bomb and to enrich uranium, something that the ayatollahs considered unacceptable.

Both Israel and Trump himself had warned of possible preventive attacks on the Persian country due to this refusal by Iran.

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