President Donald Trump's administration can make use of the military to go after Latin American gangs, which have been designated as international terrorist organizations. The Pentagon has been asked to ready plans in this regard, US officials said.
The Trump administration designated Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel and other drug gangs as well as Venezuelan criminal group Tren de Aragua as global terrorist organizations in February.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday the administration could now use the military to go after cartels. “It allows us to now target what they're operating and to use other elements of American power, intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, whatever... to target these groups if we have an opportunity to do it. We have to start treating them as armed terrorist organizations, not simply drug dealing organizations,” Rubio said.
The New York Times carried the initial report on Trump's move against cartels.
What US military action against drug cartels could look like
A US official noted that Trump's move would allow the navy to carry out operations at sea, including drug interdiction operations.
{{/usCountry}}A US official noted that Trump's move would allow the navy to carry out operations at sea, including drug interdiction operations.
{{/usCountry}}The DEA estimates over nine million shipping containers arrive on large cargo ships each year and another 157,000 arrive on smaller vessels in many coastal towns across the U.S. Drugs smuggled in this method include cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, amphetamine, and marijuana.
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Operations could also include targeted military raids, the official continued, while another said that military actions didn't seem imminent, and it was not quite clear what types of operation the military would carry out.
Notably, the US military has already been using more and more airborne surveillance to collect information on Mexican drug cartels in an effort to chalk up a plan to best counter their activities.
‘No invasion’ says Mexico
Even as Trump issued the order, Mexican counterpart Claudia Sheinbaum has asserted there will be ‘no invasion’.
“We are cooperating, we are collaborating, but there will be no invasion. That is absolutely ruled out,” she said.
Notably, the President has often blamed Mexico for not doing enough to stop the flow of fentanyl-laced cocaine into the US.
Trump's move has also raised questions among X users, with one asking “Ok, let’s imagine there is cartel in Bolivia (hypothetically) and Trump send army to deal with it in Bolivia, will that be considered as US aggression towards Bolivia or that is Special Military Operation only?)”
Another advocated for the toppling of the Mexican government, saying “Mexico is a Narco state. Half the government is Cartel, including the president. To solve the problem, Trump is going to have to topple the Mexican Government and eradicate the cartels.”
Yet another individual noted “…it’s important to call this an invasion: Trump is invading Mexico and opening another front in the ongoing world war”.
Needless to say, there are plenty of legal complexities involved in sending military troops to a foreign nation to carry out any sort of operation.
Interestingly, Trump's okaying of military action comes right on the heels of Attorney General Pam Bondi increasing the reward for the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to $50 million. Maduro, as per the US government, has ties to cartels. The US had, in the past, carried out military operations in Panama – Operation Just Cause – which began in December 1989 to remove Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, who also was indicted for drug trafficking.
(With agency inputs)