Mexico City – Officials from the United States and Mexico agreed on Wednesday to strengthen cooperation on joint security concerns, including drug smuggling, illegal migration and arms trafficking, since Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the controversial decision of President Trump to order a smuggling attack in the Caribbean Sea.
The main American diplomat held his first meeting with President Claudia Sheinbaum one day after the dramatic strike of the Pentagon raised the spectrum of a unilateral American military attack against alleged poster objectives in Mexico.
Tuesday's action on a ship that had left Venezuela killed 11 “narcoterrorist” maritime who transported drugs for the United States, Trump said, who released what he described as a video of the attack.
In Mexico, Rubio praised the strike, stating that traditional interdiction efforts had not been able to stop drug flow through the Caribbean. “What will stop them is when you explode them,” Rubio told journalists in Mexico City. “You get rid of them.”
These strikes may be ongoing and will probably continue, Rubio said, without providing additional details.
The Secretary of State avoided a question about whether the action, which critics denounced as illegal according to international law, said a return to the “diplomacy of the Canchoneras boat” in a region where US interventions have historically fueled resentment.
Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Juan Ramón de la Fuente, (left) and the Secretary of State of the United States Marco Rubio Wave during Rubio's arrival on Tuesday in Mexico City for a meeting with Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday.
(Héctor Vivas / Getty Images)
Although Trump said that Tuesday's attack took place in international waters, he has not ruled out strikes in Mexico, where his administration has designated half a dozen posters as foreign terrorist organizations. He has pressed for the use of the military against drug traffickers. According to reports, Trump has issued a secret order that directs the Pentagon that attacks Latin American posters.
According to the Trump Administration, its continuous deployment of warships in the southern Caribbean aims to deter drug trafficking in Venezuela, do not tear down the government of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. American prosecutors have accused Maduro of being a leader of the poster, a position dismissed as propaganda by the Venezuelan leader.
But naval accumulation in the Caribbean has also expressed concerns in Mexico, which is the main duct for cocaine, fentanyl and other illicit drugs that enter the United States.
Many observers in Mexico see the designation of posters as terrorist groups, that the Government opposed vociferantly, as a possible justification to attack posters in the Mexican territory.
The strike in the Caribbean shows “the type of attacks that could be directed against Mexican people and vehicles,” wrote columnist Julio Hernández López in the newspaper La Jornada Mexico. “One can only expect the president to avoid as much as possible the political, economic and even ballistic alluvion of Trump and his hawks.”
Rubio's first trip to Mexico as Secretary of State has been anticipated for a long time here, where Sheinbaum has been walking along a very fine line. The first woman president of Mexico, a lifelong leftist, has struggled to placate Trump in drug smuggling, tariffs and other contentious problems, while assuring her nationalist base that she is not yielding to the demands of the United States.
Sheinbaum has rejected Trump's offer for direct military aid to help Mexico fight posters. His decision, according to Trump, was based on his fear of organized crime. Trump accused that organized crime permeates the Government of Mexico, a position denied by Sheinbaum.
On Wednesday, when asked about Trump's claim that he feared the posters, Sheinbaum responded characteristicly non -confidential.
“It's not true … but we maintain good relationships,” she replied. “We have great respect for the relationship of Mexican-united states and by President Trump.”
A joint declaration of USxico on binational cooperation emphasized “respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity … as well as mutual trust.” But Mexican commentators indicated that there was no guarantee that the Trump administration would not unilaterally attacked against the objectives of the poster in Mexico.
The goal, the statement said, “is to work together to dismantle transnational organized crime through better cooperation.”
Despite the growing tensions in relations between the United States and Mexico, Rubio was effusive in his praise for the efforts of application of Mexican law. He cited Mexico's recent decision to give US prosecutors dozens of imprisoned suspects sought in the United States.
“That is not easy to do,” said Rubio, appearing at a joint press conference with his Mexican counterpart, Juan Ramón de la Fuente.
On a subject of particular concern for Mexico, the traffic of weapons to the south, which includes assault weapons, grenades, mines and other military degrees, Rubio said that US authorities were determined to “stop it.” He pointed out the danger of drones in the hands of organized crime, “threatening states, threatening security forces.”
Both diplomats praised binational efforts that have helped reduce illicit crosses along the border between the United States and Mexico to levels not seen in decades. Mexico has deployed thousands of its troops on its border with the United States. They have the task of reducing illicit immigration, drug smuggling and other crimes.
But Rubio offered little hope to Mexico on another crucial issue: tariffs. In July, Mexico won a 90 -day postponement in a Trump administration plan to impose 30% tariffs on Mexican imports. Rubio expressed the hope that the ongoing conversations between the two countries may result in a successful commercial agreement.
The special correspondent Sánchez Vidal reported Mexico City and the writer of the Times staff, McDonnell of Boston.
