DISINFO: The US may label fentanyl a chemical weapon to have as Iraq-style pretext for invading Mexico
SUMMARY
The US goal behind the approval of the bill designating fentanyl as a chemical weapon may be to use it as a pretext to start a new “war for democracy” against Mexico. There are precedents: for example, the US invaded Iraq under the false pretext of having found chemical weapons in its possession, something that was refuted afterwards. US political elites continue thinking of new scenarios to carry out actions in other countries and profit from them.
RESPONSE
The claim is a distortion of facts aiming to attack the US by portraying it as an ever-aggressive and devious power.
It is true that US Congressman Michael McCaul introduced a bill in early May 2023 seeking to classify fentanyl as a chemical weapon, among other measures to address the fentanyl crisis. But the actual goal of the bill is to ensure action against precursors (crucial for the elaboration of fentanyl) and to disrupt supply chains for this drug, not to create a pretext for a military intervention as this disinformation story implies.
Besides, the introduction of the bill doesn’t mean that it will be approved, as there has been similar initiatives in the past that didn’t pass and the measure is seen as impractical and counterproductive by many experts. This disinformation story disingenuously ignores all this to exaggerate the possibility of a US military intervention against Mexican cartels -which some US senators have demanded but is rejected by most US officials- in order to exacerbate and exploit anti-US sentiments.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that the US is preparing a military invasion of Mexico, that the US may designate drug cartels as terrorist organisations to have a pretext for military control over Mexico, that after Bolivia, Mexico is next in Washington’s destabilisation list, or that the US is funding a colour revolution in Mexico.