Mexico rejects Trump’s reported military plan against Latin American drug cartels

Mexico said the US military would not enter their territory after reports that President Donald Trump had directed the Pentagon to target Latin American drug cartels.

“The United States will not come to Mexico with the military,” said President Claudia Shainbaum on Friday. “We cooperate, cooperate, but there will be no invasion. This is excluded, absolutely excluded.”

The New York Times announced on Friday that Trump has secretly signed a directive to start using a military force on foreign soil.

In a statement to the BBC, the White House did not turn to the directive, but said “Trump’s main priority is the protection of the homeland.”

It seems that the reported directive follows an enforcement order, signed by Trump earlier this year, officially defines eight drug addicts as terrorist entities – six of which are Mexican.

In a speech to reporters, Shainbaum said that the Mexican government was informed that an order was coming for the cartels and “that it has nothing to do with the participation of every serviceman.”

“This is not part of any agreement, far from it. When it is brought up, we have always said” no, “she said.

Earlier this year, Shainbaum told reporters that Trump’s decision to define cartels as terrorists “cannot be an opportunity for the United States to invade our sovereignty.”

On Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the name would help US cartels, including through intelligence agencies and the Ministry of Defense.

“We have to start treating them as armed terrorist organizations, not just drug trafficking organizations,” Rubio said.

The New York Times report states that the Directive signed by Trump provides a “official basis for the possibility of direct military operations” against the cartels, both in the sea and on foreign soil.

In recent months, Mexico has been working with the United States to limit the illegal flow of both migrants and drugs across the US -Mexico border.

Jun saw the largest border crossings, according to US customs and border defense, and last week, US Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson said fentanyl seizures at the border decreased more than half.

In a post of X, Johnson celebrated the cooperation between Shainbum and Trump, writing that their management led to the fact that the cartels “went bankrupt and our countries are more forthcoming because of this.”