The U.S. Army is moving hundreds of soldiers to Latin America who are expected to train local troops and eventually carry out raids and operations targeting terrorist drug cartels. The deployments come as Mexico, one of the main hotspots for cartel violence, is one of the few countries still refusing to fully cooperate with the United States in the effort to eradicate the terrorist organizations.
Mexico continues to hide behind claims of national sovereignty and constantly demands evidence of wrongdoing when the targets are politicians tied to the country’s ruling party.
To strengthen a regional coalition of 19 countries, the U.S. Army reportedly sent 600 soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, NY, the New York Times reported, citing anonymous sources. While the U.S. government has not confirmed the deployment, the reported movement matches a growing presence of U.S. troops in Latin America aimed at bolstering the Shield of the Americas initiative aimed at fighting terrorist drug cartels.
As Breitbart Texas reported, military forces have already taken part in raids. U.S. troops worked alongside Ecuadorian forces in September to take down a cell of Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) members from Mexico who were operating in that country. At the time, government officials claimed that the CJNG members did not have ties to local gangs or criminal organizations but had set up operations there to help funnel drugs from other countries north towards Mexico and eventually the United States.
At its inception, the Shield of the Americas included 13 countries, including the United States. Since then, additional countries have joined the movement. The main detractors of the initiative are countries with left-leaning governments such as Mexico, Brazil, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
In the case of Mexico, one of the most notorious hotbeds of cartel activity, President Claudia Sheinbaum has openly rejected the presence of U.S. troops in Mexico. She claims that it would violate national sovereignty. However, she has had her top security official, Omar Garcia Harfuch, coordinate intelligence sharing while having Mexican troops carry out the raids.
While the move has led to some key arrests, tensions still rise between the two countries primarily over Mexico’s reluctance to go after cartel-connected individuals with political ties to the country’s ruling party, Morena.
One of the clearest examples came earlier this year when the U.S. Department of Justice criminally indicted Sinaloa’s Governor Ruben Rocha Moya on drug trafficking conspiracy and weapons charges. As Breitbart Texas has reported, rather than helping with arrests and extraditions, Sheinbaum and her government have protected and publicly defended Rocha Moya, claiming that the U.S. has not given them any evidence of wrongdoing by the Morena politician.
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.