Mexico’s president downplays cartel violence that drove nearly 600 Mexicans away

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador thanked Guatemala on Friday for helping the nearly 600 Mexicans who have crossed into Guatemala to escape drug cartel violence but also minimized the violence that drove them there.
In his first comments since the refugees fled earlier this week, the president went on to add that Mexico is a large country, and like many other parts of the world, “there are conflicts.”
“Our (political) adversaries want to see that our government is unstable, that violence dominates and our country is being destroyed,” he said. The National Guard would secure the area and the situation would soon be resolved, he said.
A Guatemalan government report said some 580 people had fled violence in the Mexican state of Chiapas, including men, women, children and elderly.