Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said the country would categorically reject any unilateral U.S. military action in Mexico and warned that such measures “would not resolve anything” amid threats from U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to use drone strikes against drug cartels.
Sheinbaum spoke to reporters on April 8 during a daily news conference and answered questions about an NBC News report that claimed Trump’s administration is considering drone strikes on drug cartels in Mexico to combat trafficking across the shared border.
“The people of Mexico will not, under any circumstances, accept intervention, interference, or any other act from abroad,” Sheinbaum told reporters.
“We do not agree with any kind of intervention or interference,” Sheinbaum added. “This has been very clear: We coordinate, we collaborate, [but] we are not subordinate and there is no meddling in these actions.”
On Tuesday, NBC News cited six current and former U.S. military, law enforcement and intelligence officials with knowledge of the matter. It said officials were saying that the Trump administration was weighing drone strikes in Mexico “to combat criminal gangs trafficking narcotics across the southern border,” adding that no decision had been made.
Sheinbaum stated that the U.S. and Mexico have a good ongoing dialogue on security issues and that she did not think the U.S. would pursue such unilateral action.
In February, Sheinbaum said that Mexico will not tolerate an “invasion” of its national sovereignty after the Trump administration moved to formally designate eight Latin American crime organizations as “foreign terrorist organizations.”
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“This cannot be an opportunity for the U.S. to invade our sovereignty,” Sheinbaum said during her daily press briefing on Feb. 20. “With Mexico it is collaboration and coordination, never subordination or interventionism, and even less invasion.”
“We want to be clear given this designation that we don’t negotiate our sovereignty,” Sheinbaum added. “There can be no interference or subordination.
“Both countries want to reduce the consumption of drugs and the trafficking of illegal drugs.”
Sheinbaum said her government was not consulted by the United States in its decision to include Mexican cartels on a list of global terrorist organizations, including the Sinaloa cartel, United cartel, the Michoacana family and the Jalisco New Generation cartel.
On Tuesday, Colby Jenkins, currently working as the assistant defense secretary for special operations, told a Senate committee that special operations forces do not have the authority to launch drone attacks at drug cartels in Mexico, even though Trump has designated them foreign terrorist organizations.
Jenkins said that Trump’s designation doesn’t automatically give the U.S. military the authority to take direct action against the cartels.
Under questioning from Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat, Jenkins said it “helps us unlock the doors” for a broader government approach to the drug problem.
Slotkin made reference to a post made by Elon Musk on Feb. 19, when he said that foreign terrorist designation means that the U.S. can conduct drone strikes against the cartels.
Jenkins said it doesn’t, but now the military can provide options and be ready if Trump wants more done to protect the border.
— With files from Reuters and The Associated Press
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