Security & Strategic Review - October 2023

In a press conference on 21 August, Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador labelled the news agency Reuters as “liars”. López Obrador was responding to a report published by the news agency on 18 August that stated that Mexican drug trafficking organisations (DTOs) were using remittance payments to send illicit earnings from the US to Mexico. The report has hit a nerve given that remittances to Mexico have soared since López Obrador took power in 2018, something which the president often celebrates due to the positive impact on Mexico’s economy - despite the drawbacks of an overdependency on money sent from those overseas.