‘These Counterfeit Pills Are Very Well Done’: Victor Avila on China’s Role in US Overdose Deaths

In this special episode, we sat down with Victor Avila, former ICE special agent and author of “Agent Under Fire.” He talks about China’s role in getting illicit drugs like fentanyl over the border and into the United States, how widespread trafficking is in the country, and much more.

Avila said, “China has a major role in Mexico, in conjunction with the cartels, as they’re the primary producers and providers of the precursors and chemicals to the cartels that produce the methamphetamine and fentanyl, especially the counterfeit pills. There’s over 100 super labs in Mexico right now that produce these drugs and that continue to pour into our country mostly through our southern border.”

“According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, one out of every four pills in this country right now is a counterfeit pill. And so you have this surge in deaths in the young population, mostly in college-age students, which might not necessarily be drug addicted or just experimenting with a pill. They take one that happens to be a counterfeit pill full of fentanyl, and they overdose on it. And let’s not forget the meth. As I travel around the country, the methamphetamine is a huge impact on a lot of communities, especially when it comes to crime and the crime associated with that highly addictive drug. And I’ve seen it in towns that most people will not expect … the meth, where it’s ending up, and that’s states like South Dakota and Montana as well,” he added.

We also sat down with Antonio Graceffo, a China economic analyst. He touches on how China’s influence has been popping up around the world and how it’s taken over an entire continent.

Graceffo said, “Before you borrow money from China, you have to really think it through. Now, one of the issues is that China has a strategy of essentially looking for countries that the IMF, the World Bank, the Paris Club, you know, the standard lenders will not lend to because these other organizations have a conscience. And they’ll actually say, ‘Listen, you know, Country X or Y, you’re already heavily in debt, and if we loan you more money, we’re going to be putting debt on top of debt, and it’s going to overburden you. And it could crash out your economy and do all kinds of horrible things. Your currency can collapse, and this and that.’ And so they won’t lend to them … basically out of conscience. And then China shows up. They go, ‘Oh, you know, the West rejected you, I’m your friend, I’ll loan you this money.’ And then they loan them the money and then they push them over the edge or right to the edge.”

He added, “Little by little, these African countries [that borrowed from China] are just going to get sucked into this China orbit. And meanwhile, these debts, China claims that they are not taking ports and they’re not taking airports in places like Kenya. If you look at the contracts, that that is what is happening, and you’re going to wind up with China controlling seaports in Africa, they’re going to control airports. I mean, they already have a military base in Djibouti, they’ll be building other bases. And it’s just this Chinese juggernaut.”

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