A message from Donald Trump celebrating the 19th-century US invasion of its southern neighbour – and the subsequent loss of more than half its territory – has touched a historical nerve in Mexico, with some seeing it as a veiled threat for future incursions.
Reacting to the US president’s statement, which described the invasion as “a legendary victory”, Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s president, said during her morning news conference on Tuesday: “We must always defend our sovereignty.”
Others were less subtle in their criticism. “Never, in the recent annals of Mexico-US relations had we seen anything like this,” wrote the former Mexican ambassador to the US Arturo Sarukhan, on X. “This is not only spiking the ball in the end zone; it’s an in your face F… You.”
The message, posted by the White House on Monday, said the US-Mexico war “reasserted American sovereignty, and expanded the promise of American independence across our majestic continent”.
But the conflict has long been a historical sore spot for Mexico: Following the capture of Mexico City by US troops in 1847, Mexico gave away 55% of its pre-war territory, including the present-day states of California, Nevada, Utah, much of Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.
Trump not only celebrated the war as a “a triumphant victory for American sovereignty” but suggested that much of his policy in Latin America was being “guided by our victory on the fields of Mexico 178 years ago”, including efforts to defend “our southern border against invasion”.
The message comes as the Trump administration has grown increasingly hawkish in the continent, sending troops into Venezuela last month to capture its president, Nicolás Maduro, and threatening military action in Colombia and Cuba.
As far as Mexico goes, Trump has regularly suggested an incursion south of the border to confront the country’s drug-trafficking groups, saying that after taking out numerous alleged drug boats at sea, “we are going to start now hitting land, with regard to the cartels.”
Sheinbaum has repeatedly rebuffed Trump’s offers to send troops into Mexico, but some saw the White House’s message as yet another veiled threat from Trump.
“He continues to view Mexico as a territory to be conquered, not as a partner,” wrote the columnist and political analyst Denise Dresser on X. “He will continue to look for ways to intervene.”
But Tony Payan, a Mexico expert at Rice University in Texas, saw the statement as less of a threat and more of a slap to one of the US’s most important allies.
Mexico is “a country that has done nothing but cooperate with US interests on all levels”, he said. “And here he is rubbing Mexico’s nose in what is essentially a very deep wound in Mexico’s history … it’s seared in Mexico’s memory.”
According to Payan, the statement also speaks volumes as to how Trump would like his presidency to be remembered.
“He wants to go down as a great president who expanded the American Empire,” he said. “It’s just sheer 19th-century-style imperialism.”
