President Donald Trump said Sunday that his Mexican counterpart, Claudia Sheinbaum, rejected his proposal to send U.S. troops to Mexico to help curb illegal drug trafficking because she is afraid of the country’s powerful cartels.
Sheinbaum confirmed the day before that Trump pressured her during a phone call last month to accept a larger role for the U.S. military in combating drug cartels in Mexico.
Trump said it was “true” that he proposed sending troops to Mexico and lashed out at Sheinbaum for dismissing the idea.
“Well, she’s so afraid of the cartels that she can’t walk, so you know that’s the reason,” Trump said in comments to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday. “And I think she’s a lovely woman. The president of Mexico is a lovely woman, but she’s so afraid of the cartels that she can’t even think straight.”
The United States has steadily increased its military presence along the border with Mexico in recent months, after Trump ordered a greater role for the military to stem the flow of migrants in January.
The U.S. Northern Command has increased the deployment of personnel and equipment to the border, increased the number of manned surveillance flights to monitor fentanyl trafficking along the border, and sought to expand its authority for U.S. Special Forces to work closely with Mexican forces in operations against cartels.
But Sheinbaum said sending U.S. forces to operate within Mexico was a step too far.
In February, Trump designated many criminal groups and cartels that traffic drugs into the United States as “foreign terrorist organizations,” a measure that restricts many of their movements and makes more resources available to law enforcement to combat them.
But Sheinbaum’s stance, and Trump’s response, suggest that US pressure for unilateral military intervention could create tensions between the two leaders after cooperation on immigration and trade at the start of Trump’s second term.
Trump said the US military is needed to stem the fentanyl scourge in the United States.
“That’s bad news,” Trump said of the cartels. “If Mexico wanted help with the cartels, I would be honored to come in and do it. I told them that. It would be an honor to come in and do it. The cartels are trying to destroy our country.”
Source: jornada
