«I am not happy with Mexico at all»: Trump says he would be «proud» to attack drug boats from the neighboring country.
The US president also asserts without offering further details: «We have to resolve the issue of Venezuela.»
US President Donald Trump—engaged in a psychological pressure war with Venezuela, in which his huge military contingent in the Caribbean sinks alleged drug boats from that country every week—also lashed out on Monday against Mexico, the nation from which most of the fentanyl circulating in US territory originates. Speaking to the press in the Oval Office, he said he would be «proud» to order attacks on alleged drug boats in Mexican waters, but declined to answer whether this was a possibility he would consider, or whether he would do so without consulting the Mexican government.
«It’s fine with me. [Anything] we have to do to stop drug trafficking,» he said. «I’m not saying I’m going to do it. But I would be proud to do it,» he added, responding to a journalist’s questions about the possibility of attacking alleged Mexican drug boats first and then about the possibility of doing so behind the back of President Claudia Sheinbaum and the Mexican authorities.
«I’m not going to answer that question,» he replied when asked if he had discussed the issue with the government of the neighboring country. «They know how we are losing hundreds of thousands of people a year to drugs… Not to mention the destruction of families. Much of that comes from Mexico. So let me put it this way: I’m not happy with Mexico at all.»«I’m not going to answer that question,» he replied when asked if he had discussed the issue with the government of the neighboring country. «They know how we are losing hundreds of thousands of people a year to drugs… Not to mention the destruction of families. Much of that comes from Mexico. So let me put it this way: I’m not happy with Mexico at all.»
No es la primera vez en que el estadounidense protesta en público acerca del narcotráfico procedente de México, que introduce la mayor parte del fentanilo que entra en Estados Unidos. El fentanilo se ha convertido en la droga más letal en territorio estadounidense y se le atribuye la mayor parte de las decenas de miles de muertes por sobredosis que ocurren cada año en el país.
At the same event, a meeting with FIFA representatives to prepare for next year’s World Cup—which the United States will host—Trump also reiterated on Monday that his administration must «resolve the issue of Venezuela.» His comments come a day after the Gerald Ford, the world’s largest and most modern aircraft carrier, arrived in the Caribbean to join the US fleet carrying out extrajudicial attacks on alleged drug smuggling boats under the pretext of fighting drug trafficking.
The arrival of the Ford and its combat group brings the number of US troops in the area to 15,000 and makes the US military presence in the Caribbean the largest in more than 60 years. This has sparked speculation that the real objective of the mission—dubbed «Southern Spear» last week and which also includes attacks on ships in the eastern Pacific—is to force regime change in Venezuela. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro himself claims that the real purpose is his downfall.
The Republican does not want to reveal his hand and is giving contradictory clues about what he intends to do. Last week, after a series of meetings with his advisors to discuss the next steps in the Caribbean, he indicated that he had «more or less» made a decision.
On Sunday, the State Department announced that it will designate the Venezuelan Soles cartel, which it accuses Maduro of leading, as a foreign terrorist organization. The move opens the door to an attack on Venezuelan soil, as the White House’s legal argument for justifying the military campaign is that it is at war with the drug gangs included on that list.
But just hours later, Trump hinted in other statements to the press at the possibility of entering into direct talks with Caracas, asserting that Maduro’s regime is willing to do so.
On Monday, he said he was not ruling out any options regarding possible military intervention in Venezuela, although he also reiterated his willingness to talk to the Venezuelan leader. «I’m not ruling anything out. We simply have to resolve the issue of Venezuela,» Trump said. «I’ll probably talk to him. I talk to a lot of people.»
The Republican reiterated his opinion, expressed on several occasions throughout his term in office, that the Caribbean country «has not been good to the United States» for allegedly «emptying its prisons» and sending its inmates to the North.
