After Philip Seymour Hoffman Death, US Officials Point Finger At Mexico In Expansion Of Heroin Market

The recent death by heroin overdose of Philip Seymour Hoffman has put growing use of the drug in the United States under the national spotlight. InsightCrime notes that US officials are pointing the finger at Mexican drug-enforcement authorities, saying that efforts by the administration of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto to reassert its independence from the US on drug-related intelligence has allowed the US market for the drug to expand. The site refers to a recent report from Proceso in which Obama administration officials complained of a “failure in bilateral cooperation”.

The six-year term of former Mexican president Felipe Calderón, which ended in 2012, saw unprecedented levels of cooperation between Mexican and American drug authorities, particularly in the sharing of highly sensitive intelligence. The Washington Post reported in December that the US had provided a bevy of high-tech tools to Mexico for its war on drug cartels, while the Calderón administration had granted US spy planes access to Mexican airspace for gathering intelligence on drug cartel targets. Customs and Border Protection drones had also helped track the movement of suspects and helped locate them during raids by the Mexican military and federal police.

Much of that came to an end when Peña Nieto entered office. “There’s very little collaboration” now, said the anonymous DEA official interviewed by Proceso. “All the regional DEA offices in Mexico are desperate. Their agents are doing all they can, but it’s not enough. We need greater cooperation with the Mexican government, because if we don’t, the problems will continue.” InsightCrime calls that analysis “simplistic at best and a political ploy at worst”, pointing to increasing purity of the drug and the growing popularity of painkillers and other opiates which often act as gateways to heroin.