FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

Trump plans to designate Mexican cartels as terror groups, stirring outcry

Trump plans to designate Mexican cartels as terror groups, stirring outcry

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's government on Tuesday requested an urgent meeting with senior U.S. officials after President Donald Trump said he was planning to designate Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations, a move that authorities here fear could vastly complicate security cooperation and trade between the neighbors.

Mexican Foreign Minister, Marcelo Ebrard, will contact Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to discuss "this theme of high relevance for the bilateral agenda," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It said the meeting should take place "as soon as possible."

Trump told former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly in a radio interview broadcast Tuesday evening that Mexican cartels "will be designated" as foreign terrorist organizations. He noted that he had suggested sending the U.S. military to help tackle organized crime in Mexico, but that idea had been rejected by the country's president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

"I've actually offered him to let us go in and clean it out and he so far has rejected the offer. But at some point, [something] has to be done," Trump said. 

The U.S. president added that his government had been working on the terrorist designation for the past 90 days. "You have to go through a process and we're well into that process," he said.

Under U.S. law, a violent foreign group or individual that threatens American security can be designated as terrorists and subject to special sanctions. Any institution dealing with a designated terrorist - such as a bank or government official - comes under heavy scrutiny and potential punishment. That could crimp U.S. commerce with Mexico, its largest trading partner.

Arturo Sarukhan, a former Mexican ambassador to Washington, said that former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama had also considered designating Mexican druglords or cartels as terrorists. "When they realized the economic and trade implications it would have on U.S.-Mexican ties, they backed down," he said in a telephone interview.

The news is sure to revive concerns in Mexico about possible U.S. military involvement in combating organized crime in this country. Mexicans are highly sensitive about any deployment of American troops on their soil.

Mexico appeared to be caught off-guard by Trump's announcement. On Monday, Ebrard said that Mexico "would never accept" that its criminal groups be designated as terrorists by the U.S. government, because "this invokes a disposition to act in a direct manner."

"But I think the United States isn't going to go this route," he said.

Mexico's homicide rate is on track to hit record levels this year, with organized-crime groups battling in many parts of the country. The organized-crime crisis received fresh attention earlier this month, when suspected cartel members gunned down nine dual U.S.-Mexican citizens belonging to the extended LeBaron family, who were living in the northern state of Sonora.

 

RELATED
nationthailand