Mexican president disputes DEA estimates of cartel strength

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday pushed back against estimates made this week about the strength of Mexican drug cartels by the top U.S. counter-narcotics official, saying the United States lacked “good information.”
The comments come in response to testimony from U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Chief Anne Milgram on Mexican cartels as part of a hearing in the U.S. Congress.
Among other findings, Milgram testified the DEA estimated that the powerful Sinaloa Cartel and Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) have more than 45,000 members, associates, facilitators and brokers in some 100 countries.
She added Sinaloa and CJNG have a presence in 21 and 19 of Mexico’s 31 states respectively and that the DEA is mapping how both have spread around the world.