Filmed: British envoy to Mexico expelled after pointing gun at local employee

The British ambassador to Mexico, Jon Benjamin, was dismissed from his post earlier this year after pointing an assault rifle at an embassy employee who was a local employee, according to a ministry report. Guardian. The removal took place after the images went viral on social media.

The Financial Times said in a report that the incident occurred while Jon Benjamin was on an official trip to Durango and Sinaloa – two Mexican states where organized crime groups travel freely. Sitting inside a car, Benjamin is seen looking at a colleague, who is visibly uncomfortable with this behavior, as seen in the widely shared video.

The weapon belonged to a member of the security forces who accompanied the diplomat. The errant security manager was also fired. The incident occurred in April.

“In a context of daily murders in Mexico by drug traffickers, he dares to joke,” said an anonymous account in the post accompanying the video shared on X.

Benjamin, 61, is no longer listed as an ambassador on the British government website, the Guardian said in his report.

“We are aware of this incident and have taken appropriate action. When internal issues arise, the FCDO has robust HR processes in place to resolve them,” the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said in a statement to Financial Times.

Benjamin’s career spanned nearly four decades and was stationed in Chile, Turkey, Ghana, Indonesia and the United States. He was appointed UK Ambassador to Mexico in 2021.

Over the past six years, Mexico has seen more than 30,000 homicides a year, one of the highest rates in Latin America, as organized crime groups fight for control of territories and businesses to nationally.

Diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and Mexico, Latin America’s second-largest economy, tend to be cordial and relatively uncontroversial. They have been negotiating a new free trade agreement since 2022.

Mexico’s cartels and drug gangs appear to play a larger role than before in Sunday’s elections that will determine the presidency, nine governorates and about 19,000 mayors and other local offices.

The country’s powerful drug cartels have long staged targeted assassinations of mayoral candidates and other local candidates who threaten their control. In Mexico, gangs depend on the control of local police chiefs and their share of municipal budgets; national politics seems to interest them less.

But as Sunday’s vote approaches, gangs have increasingly taken to shooting entire election rallies, burning ballots or preventing the setting up of polling stations. , and even display banners seeking to influence voters.

(with contributions from the Associated Press)