Mexico Rejects Trump’s Offer Of Military Strikes Against Cartels — Again
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president denied Tuesday that the United States would be allowed to launch strikes against cartels on Mexican soil, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would do so. We are ready to do whatever it takes To stop drugs coming into the US
“This is not going to happen,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday.
“He (Trump) suggested this on various occasions or ‘We’re offering you U.S. military intervention in Mexico, whatever it takes to fight criminal organizations,'” he said. “But I told him that we can cooperate at every opportunity, that they can help us with the information they have, but that we operate on our own territory and do not accept any interference from a foreign government.”
Sheinbaum said he told this to Trump and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and they understood.
“Would I like a strike to stop drugs in Mexico? That’s fine with me, let’s do whatever we have to do to stop drugs,” Trump said in a statement on Monday, adding that he was “not happy with Mexico.”
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico later Monday shared a video via social platform X containing Rubio’s previous comments saying the U.S. would not take unilateral action in Mexico.
Meanwhile, Mexican and U.S. diplomats were trying to figure out what an actual U.S. attack might be on Tuesday.
On Monday, men arrived by boat on a beach in northeastern Mexico and set up signs marking land the U.S. Department of Defense considers restricted.
Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement late Monday that the country’s Navy had removed the signs that appeared to be on Mexican territory. On Tuesday, Sheinbaum said the International Boundary and Water Commission, a binational agency that determines the border between the two countries, would step in.
The signs, nailed into the sand near where the Rio Grande flows into the Gulf of Mexico, caused a stir when witnesses said men on a boat arrived at the local beach known as Playa Baghdad and erected them.
The banners read “Warning: Restricted Area” in English and Spanish, explaining that the area was Department of Defense property and had been declared restricted by the “commander.” It was stated that unauthorized access to the area, photography or drawings cannot be made.
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Mexico contacted its consulate in Brownsville, Texas, and then the U.S. embassy in Mexico City. It was eventually determined that contractors working for some U.S. government agencies had installed the signs, Sheinbaum said.
“But the river changes its bed, becomes free, and according to the agreement you have to clearly demarcate the national border,” Sheinbaum said at the daily press conference.
The area is close to SpaceX starbaseLocated adjacent to Boca Chica Beach on the Texas side of the Rio Grande.
The facility and launch site for the SpaceX rocket program are under contract with the Department of Defense and NASA, which hope to send astronauts to the moon and one day back to Mars.
In June, Sheinbaum said the government was investigating contamination from the SpaceX facility after metal, plastic and rocket parts were reported found on the Mexican side of the border. rocket explosion During a test.
The region also carries the added sensitivity of Trump’s order. Rename the Gulf of Mexico Like the Gulf of America, which Mexico also rejected.
