Jon Benjamin once UK High Commissioner to Ghana sacked from Mexico post – Report

The UK diplomat once the country’s High Commissioner to Ghana has been sacked as Ambassador to Mexico, according to a report by the Financial Times (FT).

According to the FT Benjamin was sacked from his post earlier this year after he pointed an assault rifle at a local embassy employee in an incident captured in a video posted on social media. The incident was said to have happened when he was on an official trip to Durango and Sinaloa, two northern Mexican states with a strong presence of drug cartels. The report citing a video and people familiar with the matter, said during the trip, he picked up a gun in the vehicle he was travelling in and pointed it at a colleague.

The report indicates that foreign officials visiting dangerous parts of Mexico typically travel with armed staff for protection.

The FT report citing people familiar with the incident states that Benjamin, a career diplomat, was sacked as ambassador soon after the episode in April. A video of the incident was published on social media site X this week from an anonymous account, apparently controlled by employees of the embassy angry over mistreatment of local staff. In the five-second clip, the car appears to be stopped and the colleague’s face is blurred out. “In a context of daily killings in Mexico by drug dealers, he dares to joke,” the anonymous account said.

Benjamin served in Ghana from 2014 to 2016.