Britain’s ambassador to Mexico, Jon Benjamin, has been removed from his post after a video surfaced online showing him pointing a gun at an embassy employee.
Jon Benjamin was reportedly on an official trip when he picked up a gun in the vehicle he was travelling in. The Foreign Office said it had taken “appropriate action” after the incident.
The video, shared on X, shows Jon Benjamin pointing the firearm at a person whose face has been blurred out.
“In a context of daily killings in Mexico by drug dealers, he dares to joke,” reads a post accompanying the clip.
On Friday, the Financial Times reported the ambassador had been removed from his post after the incident, which reportedly happened during an official trip to the states of Durango and Sinaloa in April.
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Both states have a high presence of drug cartels.
Mexico has a long history of cartel violence, with around 30,000 murders a year.
“We are aware of this incident and have taken appropriate action,” a spokesman for the UK Foreign Office said.
“Where internal issues do arise, the FCDO has robust HR processes to address them.”
Mr Benjamin’s LinkedIn page says his term as ambassador ended in May, and a biography posted on the government website for the United Kingdom notes he “was UK Ambassador to Mexico between 2021 and 2024”.
According to the Foreign Office website, Mr Benjamin “joined the Diplomatic Service in 1986, and previously represented the British government in Chile, Ghana, Turkey, Indonesia, and the United States, during his career”.
