The News
US President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to label Mexican drug cartels “terrorist organizations” could open the door to US military attacks on Mexican soil, analysts warned.
Trump said that he would “immediately” make the designation upon becoming president, putting cartels alongside organizations such as Hamas and Boko Haram. Doing so would give authorities powers to stop money flows to cartels, but also would “provide the legal framework” to permit unilateral attacks in Mexico, one academic told El País, adding he would be unsurprised to learn about “an American missile hitting a methamphetamine laboratory in Badiraguato.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum warned against the plan, saying “Mexico is a free, sovereign, independent country and we do not accept interference.”