President Donald Trump has designated at least some of the Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations. While they might be predominately criminal versus political or religious, their actions aren't much different than any other group of terrorists. They control a significant portion of Mexico and have caused problems on both sides of the border.
There's a reason the designation is accurate.
However, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum seems to have a problem with that. She previously threatened to up the ante in her country's lawsuit against gun manufacturers. Now, she's trying to talk tough about US intervention in her failed state.
Mexico will never tolerate an invasion of its national sovereignty by the United States, President Claudia Sheinbaum warned Thursday after Washington designated Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations.
"This cannot be an opportunity for the U.S. to invade our sovereignty," she said. "With Mexico it is collaboration and coordination, never subordination or interventionism, and even less invasion."
On Wednesday, the Trump administration formally labeled eight cartels as terrorist groups. They include Mexico's two main drug trafficking organizations, the Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa cartels.
Mr. Trump signed an executive order on his first day back in the White House saying that the cartels "constitute a national-security threat beyond that posed by traditional organized crime."
The move has raised speculation about possible military action.
Now, I get that national sovereignty is a thing and no country likes the idea of a foreign military on its soil.
However, Sheinbaum and her predecessors had the chance to do something about the cartels and they've done absolutely nothing of substance. Not to combat them, at least.
She has, however, decided to follow through on her previous threat.
Sheinbaum also said Thursday that Mexico would follow through on her promise to expand its legal action against U.S. gun manufacturers following Washington's decision to designate cartels as terrorist groups.
The Mexican government accuses U.S. arms makers of negligence in the sale of weapons that end up in the hands of drug traffickers, and Sheinbaum said the lawsuit could lead to a new charge of alleged complicity with terrorist groups.
She's going to try and argue that the gun makers were complicit in arming the cartels, which is absolute BS.
Look, I'm just going to say that based on everything we've seen from Sheinbaum, it's hard for me to see her as anything but in the pocket of the cartels. While the most recent concerns would likely be a thing for any president of any country, the truth is that Mexico could have asked for American help in dealing with the cartels anytime before now. They could have handled it on their own.
Now, when we simply make a designation, she's on the defensive.
Of course, something Sheinbaum needs to consider is that if her military and police forces couldn't resist a criminal gang, there's not much she could do if the 82nd Airborne decided to pay her nation a visit.
I hope it doesn't come to that, but I'm really sick of this twit's constant tough talk when we already know that the last time she tried to play tough with Trump, she buckled after one phone call. This time isn't likely to be any different.
Especially when we're talking about butchers like the cartels.
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