MEXICO CITY (AP) — U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar lashed out Wednesday at Mexico’s failure to accept aid in the fight against drug cartels, claiming the country “closed the doors” on security cooperation.
In a press conference, Salazar launched his harshest criticism yet of rampant violence, police corruption and the Mexican government’s mistaken attitude that “there is no problem.”
“When they just say ‘there is no problem, we have these statistics to show people there is no problem,’ that is not based on reality,”” Salazar said. “There is a very big problem.”
Mexico sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. embassy “expressing its surprise” at Salazar’s statement, the foreign relations ministry said in a statement later Wednesday.
Salazar cited violence in recent days in the northern state of Sinaloa as an example. Sinaloa state police chief Gerardo Mérida said Wednesday authorities found a pile of between five and seven bodies on a roadside there, but were still counting body parts to see how many there were.