MEXICO CITY — U.S. and Mexican officers agreed Wednesday to bolster cooperation on joint safety considerations, together with drug smuggling, unlawful migration and arms trafficking, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended President Trump’s controversial resolution 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 raised the specter of a unilateral U.S. army assault on suspected cartel targets in Mexico.
Tuesday’s motion on a vessel that had departed Venezuela killed 11 seaborne “narcoterrorists” who had 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 did not cease the movement of medicine by way of the Caribbean. “What is going to cease them is whenever you blow them up,” Rubio instructed reporters in Mexico Metropolis. “You eliminate them.”
Such strikes could also be ongoing and can in all probability 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 beneath worldwide regulation, 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)
Though Trump mentioned Tuesday’s assault came about in worldwide waters, he has not dominated out strikes in Mexico, the place his administration has designated half a dozen cartels as international terrorist organizations. He has pushed for the usage of the army towards 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 considerations in Mexico, which is the first conduit for cocaine, fentanyl and different illicit medicine coming into the USA.
Many observers in Mexico view the designation of cartels as terrorist teams — which the authorities vociferously opposed — as offering a doable justification for attacking cartels on Mexican territory.
The strike within the Caribbean reveals “the kind of assaults that could possibly be directed towards Mexican individuals and automobiles,” wrote columnist Julio Hernández López in Mexico’s La Jornada newspaper. “One can solely hope that the president can keep away from as a lot as doable the political, financial, and even ballistic barrage from Trump and his hawks.”
Rubio’s first journey to Mexico as secretary of State has lengthy been anticipated right here, the place Sheinbaum has been strolling a superb 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 will not be caving to U.S. calls for.
Sheinbaum has rebuffed Trump’s provide of direct U.S. army support to help Mexico in combating cartels. Her resolution, in line 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 nonconfrontational vogue.
“It’s not true … however we keep good relations,” she responded. “We’ve nice respect for the Mexican-United States relationship, and for President Trump.”
A joint U.S.-Mexico assertion on binational cooperation pressured “respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity … in addition to mutual belief.” However Mexican commentators identified that there was no assure that the Trump administration wouldn’t strike unilaterally towards cartel targets in Mexico.
The purpose, the assertion mentioned, “is to work collectively to dismantle transnational organized crime by way of enhanced cooperation.”
Regardless of rising tensions in U.S.-Mexico relations, Rubio was effusive in his reward of Mexican regulation enforcement efforts. He cited Mexico’s current resolution to show over to U.S. prosecutors dozens of jailed suspects needed in the USA.
“That’s not a straightforward factor to do,” Rubio mentioned, showing at a joint information convention together with his Mexican counterpart, Juan Ramón de la Fuente.
On a problem of explicit concern to Mexico — the southbound site visitors of arms, together with assault weapons, grenade launchers, mines and different military-grade weapons — Rubio mentioned U.S. authorities had been decided to “put a cease to it.” He pointed to the hazard of drones within the arms of organized crime, “threatening states, threatening safety forces.”
Each diplomats praised the binational efforts which have helped cut 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 decreasing illicit immigration, drug smuggling and different crimes.
However Rubio provided little hope to Mexico on one other essential challenge: tariffs. In July, Mexico received a 90-day reprieve on a Trump administration plan to impose 30% tariffs on Mexican imports. Rubio voiced hopes that ongoing talks between the 2 nations might lead to a profitable commerce deal.
Particular correspondent Sánchez Vidal reported from Mexico Metropolis and Instances employees author McDonnell from Boston.
