Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he was still unwilling to go to war with Mexican drug cartels after they murdered nine U.S. citizens.
“It was lamentable, painful because children died, but do we want to resolve the problem the same way (as previous administrations)? By declaring war?” López Obrador said during a Wednesday press conference after nine Americans were ambushed and killed by cartel members.
The Mexican president said the war on drugs in the country had “caused more violence” and that the real solution is “hugs, not bullets.” The catchphrase he has used is part of his belief that fixing poverty is the solution to the drug problem.
“We are carrying out a different policy because the policy that was applied during 36 years was a resounding failure and it caused a lot of damage, a lot of sadness, a lot of deaths, a lot of losses for Mexicans,” he said. “We will not continue with the same and we will show that our proposal works, despite it not being easy. We are confident that we will achieve good results.”
On Tuesday, President Trump offered the Mexican government support from the U.S. military to “wipe” the cartels “off the face of the earth.” López Obrador declined the help, saying war is “the worst thing.”
Cartel members killed three women and six children, who were U.S. citizens, in an ambush this week, gunning them down and setting fire to one of the three cars with the victims still inside.
