MEXICO CITY — U.S. and Mexican officers agreed Wednesday to bolster cooperation on a spread of joint safety issues — together with drug smuggling, unlawful migration and arms-trafficking — as Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended President Trump’s controversial determination to order an assault on an alleged smuggling boat within the Caribbean Sea.
The highest U.S. diplomat held his first assembly with President Claudia Sheinbaum a day after the dramatic Pentagon strike offered a possible portent of what many Mexicans concern — a unilateral U.S. army assault on suspected cartel targets inside Mexico.
Tuesday’s motion on a vessel that had departed Venezuela killed 11 sea-born “narcoterrorists” who have been transporting medicine destined for the USA, mentioned Trump, who launched what he described as a video of the assault.
In Mexico, Rubio hailed the strike, stating that conventional interdiction efforts had didn’t cease the circulation of medicine by way of the Caribbean. “What will stop them is when you blow them up,” Rubio informed reporters in Mexico Metropolis. “You get rid of them.”
Such strikes could also be ongoing and can probably proceed, Rubio mentioned, offering no extra particulars.
The secretary of State sidestepped a query about whether or not the motion, which critics denounced as unlawful below worldwide legislation, signaled a return to “gunboat diplomacy” in a area the place U.S. interventions have traditionally stoked resentment.
Secretary of Overseas Affairs of Mexico, Juan Ramón de la Fuente, (left) and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wave throughout Rubio’s arrival Tuesday in Mexico Metropolis for a gathering with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday.
(Hector Vivas / Getty Photographs)
Whereas Trump mentioned Tuesday’s assault came about in worldwide waters, he has not dominated out strikes inside Mexico, the place his administration has designated half a dozen cartels as international terrorist organizations. He has pushed for using the army in opposition to drug smugglers. Trump has reportedly issued a secret order directing the Pentagon to strike at Latin American cartels.
Based on the Trump administration, its ongoing deployment of warships within the southern Caribbean is aimed toward deterring drug-trafficking from Venezuela — not toppling the federal government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. U.S. prosecutors have accused Maduro of being a cartel chief, a cost dismissed as propaganda by the Venezuelan chief.
However the naval buildup within the Caribbean has additionally raised issues in Mexico, which is the first conduit of cocaine, fentanyl and different illicit medicine getting into the USA.
Many observers in Mexico view the designation of cartels as terrorist teams — which the Mexican authorities vociferously opposed — as offering a potential justification for attacking cartels on Mexican territory.
Rubio’s first journey to Mexico as secretary of State has lengthy been anticipated in Mexico, the place Sheinbaum has been strolling a effective line. Mexico’s first girl president, a lifelong leftist, has endeavored to placate Trump on drug-smuggling, tariffs and different contentious points, whereas additionally assuring her nationalist base that she shouldn’t be caving to U.S. calls for.
Sheinbaum has rebuffed Trump’s supply of direct U.S. army assist to help Mexico fight cartels. Her determination, in keeping with Trump, was based mostly on her concern of organized crime. Trump has charged that organized crime pervades Mexico’s authorities, a cost denied by Sheinbaum.
On Wednesday, when requested about Trump’s assertion that she feared the cartels, Sheinbaum answered in characteristically non-confrontational style.
“It’s not true … but we maintain good relations,” Sheinbaum responded. “We have great respect for the Mexican-United States relationship, and for President Trump.”
A joint U.S.-Mexico assertion on binational cooperation careworn “respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity … as well as mutual trust.” However Mexican commentators identified that there was no assure that the Trump administration wouldn’t strike unilaterally in opposition to cartel targets in Mexico.
The objective, the assertion mentioned, “is to work together to dismantle transnational organized crime through enhanced cooperation.”
Regardless of rising tensions in U.S.-Mexico relations, Rubio was effusive in his reward of Mexican legislation enforcement efforts. He cited Mexico’s latest determination to show over to U.S. prosecutors dozens of jailed suspects wished in the USA.
On a difficulty of explicit concern to Mexico — the southbound visitors of arms, together with assault weapons, grenade launchers, mines and different military-grade weapons — Rubio mentioned U.S. authorities have been decided to “put a stop to it.” He pointed to the hazard of drones within the palms of organized crime, “threatening states, threatening security forces.”
Each diplomats praised the binational efforts which have helped scale back illicit crossings alongside the U.S.-Mexico border to ranges not seen in many years. Mexico has deployed hundreds of its troops to its border with the USA. They’re tasked with lowering illicit immigration, drug-smuggling and different crimes.
However Rubio supplied little hope to Mexico on one other essential situation: Tariffs. In July, Mexico gained a 90-day reprieve on a Trump administration plan to impose 30% tariffs on Mexican imports. Rubio voiced the hopes that ongoing talks between Mexico and the USA may lead to a profitable commerce deal.
Particular correspondent Sánchez Vidal reported from Mexico Metropolis and Employees Author McDonnell from Boston.
