The US has added six Mexican cartels to its list of foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs).
The new generation of Jalisco, the two largest organized crime groups in Mexico, and the Sinaloa cartel, were among the added ones, as were Tren de Aragua and Mara Salvattorcha, linked to Venezuela and El Salvador. .
It remains unclear how this designation will change the ability of US agencies to pursue these criminal groups.
However, some fear that it is the first step towards a US military strike on Mexican territory.
“It's part of political discourse and leverage,” said Maria Calderon of the Mexican Institute at Wilson Center. “If a cartel is a terrorist organization, it paves the way for other discussions in the political realm for US military action.”
The designation is part of Trump's plan.Wage war“A Mexican organized crime group claims he will deal with the US fentanyl crisis.
Despite what Trump described as a “great” and “very friendly” call with Mexican president Claudia Sinbaum, he reiterated that Mexico is “essentially run by a cartel.” It's claiming.
Sinbaum previously rejected plans to designate the cartel as a terrorist organisation in Mexico as a terrorist organisation as “intervention” and at the same time, the US government should first consider its crimes.
“They'll start in their country,” Sinbaum said. “Do they have organized crime there? They have a lot to do in the US.”
The designation, effective Thursday, marks a change in how threats from certain organized crime groups are perceived by US agencies, and denies the major role of the CIA and the US military.
Ron Johnson, chosen by Trump, Mexico's new US ambassador, served as ambassador in El Salvador from 2019 to 2021, before spending decades in the CIA and the US Army. Operated overseas.
However, it is still unclear how the designation will affect it. US institutions already have an array of freely available tools to chase multinational organized crime groups by limiting their ability to travel and do business.
The main difference is the range of people who can target. This expands to include people who provide “material support” to the cartel.
Material support has meaning in anything between logistic support and financial services, training and accommodation, guns and false documents. But how it is interpreted depends precisely on political will.
The designation of the cartel as an FTO itself does not approve of US military action in Mexico, but it fears that it will be the first step. Trump has already proposed a bombing drug lab and reportedly discussed it Send special forces Kill the cartel leader.
Since Trump returned to power, the US military has increased aerial surveillance for cartels along the US-Mexican border, and the CIA has been raising drone flights to Mexico to look for the Fentanyl Institute, but Sinbaum has given Mexico permission. I said that.
Earlier this month, Trump delayed threatened 25% tariffs on all imports from Mexico after Sinbaum agreed to send another 10,000 soldiers to the border to reduce fentanyl trafficking and migration. I did.
It is unclear how those soldiers will reduce the flow of fentanyl. It is very powerful, considering that only a relatively small amount moves, and the majority are being trafficked through ports of entry by US citizens.
Nevertheless, Sinbaum said he agreed to help Trump reduce human trafficking of weapons in return. Hundreds of thousands of guns sold in the United States each year are in the hands of Mexican groups, currently designated as terrorist organizations.
Sheinbaum says Mexico could expand ongoing lawsuits against US gunmen to include alleged accomplices with terrorist groups.
