Mexico has rejected any foreign military intervention, insisting on sovereignty and bilateral cooperation to address drug trafficking.
Los Ángeles Press
US president Donald Trump said on Thursday that his country is prepared to launch “ground operations” against drug cartels, accusing them of effectively “running Mexico” and posing a direct threat to US national security.
“We’re going to start attacking on the ground when it comes to the cartels,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News, in which he argued that drug-related violence – particularly linked to fentanyl trafficking – justified the potential use of military force beyond US borders.
The remarks come less than a week after Washington carried out an operation in Venezuela to seize former president Nicolás Maduro and transfer him to the United States to face federal charges in New York on accusations of “narco-terrorism”. Trump cited the move as evidence of the US’s willingness to act decisively overseas.
“The cartels are running Mexico. It’s very, very sad to see what’s happened to that country,” Trump said. “They’re killing 250,000 or 300,000 people in our country every year,” he added, repeating figures that have been widely contested by experts.
Since the start of his second term, Trump has repeatedly pledged a hardline approach to drug trafficking and has framed the flow of narcotics from Mexico as a top security priority. He has on several occasions floated the idea of deploying US troops to target criminal organisations directly.
Mexico’s government has firmly rejected any such scenario. President Claudia Sheinbaum has stressed that Mexico is a sovereign nation and that her administration favours bilateral cooperation and peaceful solutions, ruling out any form of foreign military intervention.