Mexican Officials Believe They 'Could Be Next' And Face U.S. Operation After Raid That Captured Maduro

"Cartels are running Mexico, it's very sad to watch," Trump said in an interview with Fox News last week. The remark was quickly dismissed by Mexican counterpart Claudia Sheinbaum, recently telling Bloomberg "I don't believe in an invasion; I don't think it's something they take seriously."

She went on to say that Trump has repeatedly requested U.S. military forces be allowed into Mexico, and she has always rejected the possibility.

However, a senior Mexican official told The New York Times that the operation made them think "oh boy, this is more serious than we thought, and we are on the list of who could be next, and worse, we have been warned."

Elsewhere in the report, officials noted that they have had to rethink their criticism of the U.S. operation that captured Maduro due to the possibility that it could help trigger Trump.

After she latest threat, Sheinbaum instructed her Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente to get in touch with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who then highlighted the Trump administration's need for "tangible results" when countering criminal organizations.

State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement that the two held a call to "discuss the need for stronger cooperation to dismantle Mexico's violent narcoterrorists networks and stop the trafficking of fentanyl and weapons."

"Secretary Rubio reaffirmed the United States' commitment to stopping narcoterrorism and stressed the need for tangible results to protect our homeland and hemisphere," the statement added.

Officials continuously focus on the possibility that Trump decides to escalate, and spent time last week analyzing the amount of times Mexico was mentioned in U.S. media coverage, comparing them with places like Colombia, Greenland and Cuba. The official who shared the chart expressed relief about Mexico being out of the spotlight, but the chances that the situation changes remain.