In the early hours of January 3, U.S. special forces entered Venezuelan territory to capture ousted President Nicolás Maduro, on charges of having ties to drug cartels, among other crimes.
Following the operation, which included an attack on the capital, Caracas, U.S. President Donald Trump made a comment regarding Mexico and the presence of drug cartels there.
President Claudia Sheinbaum was speaking at a press conference at the National Palace.
“We have a very cordial relationship with her (Claudia Sheinbaum). She’s a good woman, but the cartels control Mexico. (…) I’ve asked her on numerous occasions: ‘Would you like us to eliminate the cartels?’ ‘No, no, no, Mr. President.’ So we have to do something,” the U.S. president said. Furthermore, he recently announced that the next stage of his security strategy is to attack these criminal organizations by land, although he did not specify in which countries these operations would take place.
“We have eradicated 97% of the drugs that come in by water, and now we are going to start attacking the cartels on land,” Trump declared in an interview with the popular conservative Fox News host, Sean Hannity.
In response, President Sheinbaum stated that the history of Latin America is clear and compelling, as intervention has never brought democracy, nor has it generated well-being or lasting stability. Therefore, she rejected any foreign presence on Mexican soil.
The president has even maintained that any intervention in Mexico is classified as a serious crime and that “no intervention in any investigation or prosecution will be permitted without the express authorization and collaboration of the Mexican State within the framework of applicable laws.”
“The people of Mexico will under no circumstances accept interventions, interference, or any other act from abroad that is harmful to the integrity, independence, and sovereignty of the nation, such as coups d’état, interference in elections, or the violation of Mexican territory, whether by land, water, sea, or airspace,” he stated during his morning press conference on January 6.
What does the Mexican Constitution say about foreign intervention?
According to Article 39 of the Constitution, Title Two, Chapter I, “On National Sovereignty and the Form of Government”: “National sovereignty resides essentially and originally in the people. All public power emanates from the people and is instituted for their benefit. The people have at all times the inalienable right to alter or modify the form of their government.”
In addition, Article 40 reinforces what President Sheinbaum stated, expressly declaring that “The people of Mexico will under no circumstances accept interventions, interference, or any other act from abroad that is harmful to the integrity, independence, and sovereignty of the Nation, such as coups d’état, interference in elections, or the violation of Mexican territory, whether by land, water, sea, or airspace.”
“Nor will they consent to any intervention in investigations or prosecutions without the express authorization and collaboration of the Mexican State, within the framework of applicable laws.”
Furthermore, in 2025, an amendment to Article 19 of the Political Constitution was approved to include terrorism in the list of crimes that warrant mandatory pretrial detention.
It also establishes that “any national or foreigner involved in the manufacture, distribution, sale, transfer or entry into the national territory of weapons in an illicit manner, and any foreigner who carries out activities outside the law related to the second and third paragraphs of article 40 of this Constitution, will be subject to the most severe possible penalty, as well as the precautionary measure of mandatory preventive detention.”
Source: milenio
