United States President Donald J. Trump has once again increased the pressure on Mexico by declaring that if they won’t fight cartels head-on, his government will and threatened the use of ground forces, which he claimed are easier to move than the ongoing attacks on cartel boats at sea.
The statements came during a speech this week in which Trump briefly noted that his administration was serious about fighting cartels.
“If they (Mexico) are not going to do the job, we are going to do the job,” he said.
During his speech, Trump threatened the use of ground forces to fight cartels, claiming that his prior use of military assets to attack cartel boats had led to a reduction of 97 percent in smuggling by sea.
The comments sent shockwaves through Mexico, where President Claudia Sheinbaum has been sternly opposed to any U.S. troops or agents operating in Mexico.
Trump’s comments come just one day after Sheinbaum claimed during a May 5 speech filled with nationalistic wording that the people of Mexico loved freedom and would fight off foreign forces. The rising tensions between the two countries come at a time when the U.S. government continues to pressure Mexico into fighting drug cartels.
Most recently, the U.S. Department of Justice criminally indicted a sitting governor and nine of his closest allies on drug trafficking and weapons charges for allegedly working with the Sinaloa Cartel. Since the governor of Sinaloa, Ruben Rocha Moya, is a member of Mexico’s ruling party and is a close friend of former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the country’s government has been trying to deny the U.S. arrest and extradition request.
The case against Rocha Moya and several future, yet unnamed cases announced by the U.S. Department of Justice threaten to rock Mexico’s ruling party, MORENA, which has been closely linked to several drug cartels that they have allegedly protected in exchange for money and political influence.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.