Overview
- President Donald Trump said he would be proud to authorize attacks against cartel targets in Mexico and claimed the U.S. knows traffickers’ routes and home addresses.
- President Claudia Sheinbaum stated that Mexico will not permit foreign military intervention and that cooperation is limited to intelligence sharing and coordination.
- The U.S. Embassy circulated a video of Marco Rubio saying Washington will not take unilateral military action in Mexico and would act only at Mexico’s request, underscoring a contrast with Trump’s rhetoric.
- Since September, U.S. forces under an operation referred to as Lanza del Sur have carried out about 21 maritime strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific, with reports of dozens killed and rising tensions near Venezuela and Colombia.
- Washington cites the U.S. overdose crisis to justify the expanded regional deployment, as legal, sovereignty and human-rights concerns grow over alleged extrajudicial killings in the boat strikes.