(Washington) Donald Trump asked the army to prepare to target South American drug cartels, several of which were placed by Washington on the list of terrorist organizations, the American media reports on Friday.
The American president ordered the Pentagon to start using military force against cartels designated as terrorist organizations, says the New York Times.
THE Wall Street Journal explains for his part that the president has so far as to be asked for the Department of Defense to prepare options to do this.
The use of special forces and intelligence units is among the options envisaged, and any action would be coordinated with the countries concerned, adds the WSJ.
The “absolute priority (by Donald Trump) is to protect the national territory, and that is why he has taken the daring measure to designate several cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations,” said a spokesperson for the White House, Anna Kelly.
The United States has appointed in February the Venezuelan gang Tren of Aragua, the Mexican cartel of Sinaloa and six other groups of drug traffickers as terrorist organizations.
The Trump administration added the “Los Soles Cartel” in July to this list, which she described as a Venezuelan gang led by President Nicolas Maduro to support drug trafficking to the United States.
In March, in his speech to Congress, the American president had promised to “war” the Mexican drug cartels, speaking of a “serious threat” for the “national security” of the United States.
In response to this press information, the Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, assured on Friday that there would be “no invasion of Mexico” by American soldiers.
Photo Alfredo Estrella, Agence France-Presse Archives
Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum
“The United States will not come to Mexico with its soldiers; We cooperate, collaborate, but there will be no invasion, this is dismissed, absolutely dismissed, and moreover, we have expressed it in all calls: it is not allowed, or planned by any agreement, “she hammered.
Mme Sheinbaum has multiplied efforts to show Donald Trump that his country effectively fought against cartels, which he accuses of saturating the United States of drugs, in particular fentanyl, a powerful opioid.
