Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected a report claiming that the Trump administration is considering sending troops into Mexico to deal with cartels.
Speaking her at her daily press conference, Sheinbaum said "it's not going to happen." "We have a security understanding that we worked on for many months with the U.S. government and that we agreed on when the Secretary of State (Marco Rubio) was here. We will continue working within that framework that has very clear principles," she added.
Sheinbaum went on to say that President Donald Trump himself offered troops or logistical support, but she rejected them all saying that "Mexico is a free, independent and sovereign country."
The report in question claimed that the Trump administration is drafting plans to send U.S. troops and intelligence agents into Mexico to target cartels.
Concretely, NBC News detailed that the planning is in its early stages but a final decision has not been made. And, if it would, it wouldn't be imminent. However, the early stages of training for the potential mission have begun.
The troops, the outlet added, would operate under the authority of the U.S. intelligence community, known as Title 50 status.
Should the mission be effectively approved, actions would not be publicized. "The Trump administration is committed to utilizing an all-of-government approach to address the threats cartels pose to American citizens," a senior official told the outlet when contacted about the story.
In another passage of the story, NBC News claimed that U.S. troops in the country would largely resort to drone strikes to target drug labs and top cartel operatives. The use of drones would require U.S. troops to operate them on Mexican soil.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that Mexico is "ran by the cartels" and that the U.S. has to "defend" itself against drug-traffickers despite his respect for Sheinbaum.
A report from mid-October had detailed that Mexican officials did not believe the administration would conduct strikes inside the country. They said cooperation between the countries is currently very strong and successful to jeopardize it with unilateral strikes.
Cartel operatives, on their end, were not particularly worried about the U.S. conducting strikes in Mexico, saying operations wouldn't be seriously harmed. "We don't only have maritime routes, we have land and air as well," an operative told The New York Times. "There is always a way," the operative added.
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