United States President Donald Trump has instructed the Pentagon to prepare military plans against Latin American drug cartels designated as terrorist organizations, as reported by US media on Friday.
This decision follows the designation of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua, and six other Latin America-based groups as foreign terrorist organizations in February.
Potential measures under discussion for the operations include special forces operations and intelligence support, in coordination with foreign partners.
In March, Trump announced a “war” against drug cartels, accusing them of flooding the United States with drugs like fentanyl.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement that Trump’s “top priority is protecting the homeland,” and that the decision to designate several cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations is a step towards fulfilling this objective.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview that these designations allow the US to change its approach from treating these groups as just drug dealing organizations to seeing them as armed terrorist organizations.
The Trump administration is also targeting Venezuela’s Cartel of the Suns, with President Nicolas Maduro being accused of leading the cartel. Caracas dismissed the allegations as politically motivated.
Meanwhile, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum stated that there would be no invasion of her country and that the US military would not be allowed onto Mexican territory. She also dismissed the US accusation of Maduro’s links to the Sinaloa Cartel.
Source: https://www.dw.com/en/us-trump-eyes-military-action-against-cartels-reports/a-73579780?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf
