Photo: Getty Images South America
President Trump continues to take strong action against drug cartels across the globe, primarily by targeting drug boats in international waters with lethal military force. So what are our neighbors to the south doing to address cartels operating within their borders?
The short answer is: not very much.
Claudia Sheinbaum continues to make excuses for her government’s failure to take meaningful action against cartels, including recently declaring that war against the cartels is “out of the question.”
She explained why, saying: “First, because it is outside of the legal framework. All of these people from the right that fill their mouths with—or use the words—‘rule of law’ and defend the war against the narco; the war against the narco is illegal.”
Ildefonso Ortiz with Breitbart News says the real reason they refuse to act is the simple fact that Mexico is a largely cartel-controlled nation. According to Ortiz, the political party currently governing Mexico has for years relied on cartels to fund their campaigns and even lead get-out-the-vote efforts. As a result, the cartels have been protected by the Mexican government.
He added that even in the cases where Mexican authorities seize cartel drugs and assets, the amount seized is often so small that the seizures are little more than PR stunts. “Federal police and the Mexican military refuse to clash with cartel gunmen,” he said. “In some places, you just have the state police forces clashing with them.”
Ortiz warned that if Mexico continues to fail to act on the cartel issue, the United States could be forced to step in. “You have, for example, the leader of Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación—he will not be touched by authorities,” Ortiz said. “The U.S. may have to take unilateral action against this individual.”
While that might not be popular with President Sheinbaum, Ortiz doesn’t expect she’ll be able to do much more than complain about it—largely because of how reliant she is on the U.S. economy.
“Behind closed doors, Sheinbaum has actually had to take a knee to the U.S.,” he said. “Mexico’s economy is very weak, so these tariffs have the danger of bankrupting the Mexican economy. Sheinbaum basically has to do what the U.S. says.”