The administration of US President Donald Trump finds it unacceptable that drug cartels control 30 percent of Mexico’s territory. Mike Waltz, the next National Security Advisor, stated that all resources will be used to confront these cartels.
In an interview with CBS, Waltz did not confirm whether Trump will sign a decree on his first day in office to designate Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. However, he emphasized that they should be treated as paramilitary groups.
“We cannot have paramilitary gangs shooting down planes with heavy weapons, controlling 30 percent of our neighbor Mexico’s territory, and entire strips of our border,” Waltz said on CBS’s Face the Nation.
“We must confront them as paramilitary organizations with billions at their disposal, armored vehicles, and heavy machine guns that fight against the Mexican Army, not the Police, but the Army until it is paralyzed.”
Waltz’s assessment aligns with statements made in March 2021 by Glen VanHerk, the then head of the US Northern Command, who claimed that cartels controlled 35 percent of Mexico.
Source: Reforma
