The British ambassador to Mexico has been removed from his post after he pointed an assault rifle at a local embassy employee in a vehicle, according to media reports and a video of the incident circulating online.
The video, shared on X, shows the career diplomat, British Ambassador to Mexico Jon Benjamin, smiling in the front passenger seat as he points the weapon at a person in the back seat whose face has been blurred.
The video appears to have been recorded with a cellphone. Laughter can be heard in the background and the person being aimed makes a gesture of surprise.
“In a context of daily killings in Mexico by drug dealers, he dares to joke,” a post accompanying the video reads.
Earlier on Friday, the Financial Times reported that the ambassador had been removed from his post after the incident, which it said occurred on an official trip to the states of Durango and Sinaloa last month.
Mexico has long reeled from violence linked to the country’s warring drug cartels, with about 30,000 people murdered a year.
“We are aware of this incident and have taken appropriate action,” a British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said.
Benjamin’s LinkedIn page says his term as ambassador ended this month, and a biography posted on the government’s Web site says he “was UK Ambassador to Mexico between 2021 and 2024.”
Prior to serving in Mexico, he represented the UK in Chile, Ghana, Turkey, Indonesia and the US.
Additional reporting by AP
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