Overview
- The New York Times reported a renewed U.S. push for Special Operations or CIA personnel to accompany Mexican forces against suspected fentanyl labs, reactivated after the Jan. 3 Venezuela operation.
- President Claudia Sheinbaum has publicly rejected foreign troops under constitutional limits, proposing deeper intelligence-sharing and a greater U.S. role inside Mexican command centers.
- U.S. advisers already work in Mexican military command posts, and CIA drone surveillance that began under Biden has expanded to map potential labs and precursor shipments.
- The State Department’s Western Hemisphere bureau demanded “concrete and verifiable” results on dismantling networks, as Marco Rubio and Juan Ramón de la Fuente set a Jan. 23 security group meeting and a February ministerial in Washington.
- No authorization for armed U.S. operations exists, though the Pentagon says it stands ready, and some U.S. officials have floated potential drone strikes inside Mexico.