Overview
- President Claudia Sheinbaum said Foreign Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente asked U.S. Ambassador Ron Johnson to resume and update a bilateral protocol so suspect vessels are intercepted and crews arrested rather than destroyed.
- Sheinbaum said Johnson agreed in principle with the proposal and would take it to U.S. authorities, emphasizing protections for Mexican sovereignty and the lives of people on board.
- Mexico’s Navy is conducting a search-and-rescue operation roughly 400 nautical miles southwest of Acapulco for a reported survivor of the latest strike, and no rescue has been confirmed.
- U.S. officials have reported 13 maritime attacks since early September, including three strikes this week in the eastern Pacific against four boats that left 14 people dead and one survivor, with at least 57 deaths reported overall.
- UN experts and legal analysts questioned the legality and transparency of the U.S. campaign, while U.S. leaders defended the operations as part of an intensified effort against narcotrafficking.