Ioan Grillo, a journalist who specializes in cartels, warned that the U.S. attack on a vessel from Venezuela could be a sign of future attacks against criminal organizations in Mexico.
“The missile attack on the alleged ‘drug boat’ in the Caribbean shows how the terrorist designation of cartels and gangs works now. The line has been crossed. This is how an attack on a Mexican cartel target could look like,” Grillo wrote on social media.
Such an attack could strain U.S.-Mexico relations, especially since Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has repeatedly said this is not acceptable.
Speaking at the Presidential Palace this week, Sheinbaum said a military strike would not fully end criminal organizations in Mexico. She added that fighting them “is much more complex.”
“We don’t agree with it. Firstly because it’s not necessary. Secondly because it would violate our sovereignty. And thirdly because organized crime is much more complex,” Sheinbaum said.
On Monday, Sheinbaum said her administration is open to new security agreements with the U.S., but only if they are done “without subordination.”
During her first State of the Union, she addressed reports that U.S. President Donald Trump had directed the Pentagon to consider military strikes against Mexican cartels.
Sheinbaum said she had already anticipated that the Trump administration “offered more intervention in our country” but rejected it. She emphasized that her administration will “never sign something that from our perspective violates our sovereignty or our territory.” “Never. They might have the intent to do it, but we said no, not under that scheme,” she added.
