“We must treat them as armed terrorist groups, not just drug trafficking organisations,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
US doubles the reward for Venezuelan Maduro for cartel ties
The US has increased its pay for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s arrest to $50 million, citing Cartel Thailand.
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the United States can use military and intelligence against cartels.
- The US Navy can run drug prevention operations at sea, sources told Reuters.
President Donald Trump’s administration can use the military to chase Latin American drug gangs who have been designated as a global terrorist organization and have directed the Department of Defense to prepare options, US officials said.
The Trump administration designated Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and other drug gangs, as well as Venezuelan crime group Trender Lagua, as a global terrorist organization in February, and Trump strengthened immigration enforcement against gang members.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that the administration could use the military to chase the cartels.
“Now you can target what they run and use other elements like American power, Intelligence Reporting Agency, the Department of Defense, and more.
“We must start treating them as armed terrorist groups, not just drug trafficking organisations.”
The New York Times reported Friday that Trump secretly signed an order to begin using military force against the group.
A US official speaking about the terms of anonymity confirmed the move but said military action against the designated groups appears to be unimmediate and it is unclear what kind of operations they will perform.
The second US official said the authorities, among other things, could empower the U.S. Navy to carry out actions at sea and include drug prevention operations. Operations can also include targeted military raids.
The US military has already increased aerial surveillance for Mexican drug cartels and is gathering intelligence to determine the best way to work.
Not our soil, the Mexican president says
Mexican President Claudia Sinbaum said on Friday that members of the US military would not enter Mexico’s territory.
Sheinbaum said her government had been informed of future orders but had nothing to do with the US military in Mexican soil.
The move to use the US military against the cartel could raise legal issues.
Brian Finecan, along with International Crisis Group, wrote that military action in Mexico is “hard to square with domestic or international law.”
“Even though US military actions in Mexico are arguably illegal, such illegality may not serve as an effective obstacle,” Finycan said after the global terrorist designation in February.
Trump previously offered to send troops to Mexico to support drug trafficking in combat with Shainbaum, Sinbaum said in May that she refused. He publicly said that if Mexico fails to dismantle the drug cartel, the United States will take unilateral military action. Sheinbaum calls such actions a violation of Mexico’s sovereignty.
Trump considered military action in Mexico during his first term. His former defense secretary, Mark Esper, wrote in his memoirs that Trump asked at least twice in 2020 if the military could “shoot missiles into Mexico to destroy the drug lab.”
Esper wrote that he replied that it was illegal and would be an act of war.
Washington’s actions to prosecute and fight cartel activities in Mexico have caused tensions with neighbors in the south and are sometimes seen as a challenge to Mexican sovereignty.
On Friday, Shainbaum questioned Attorney General Pam Bondy’s charges that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was linked to the Sinaloa Cartel.
