Mexico Warms Up to Trump’s War on Drug Cartels

The Mexican Senate has approved the deployment of U.S. Army Green Berets into the country to target drug cartels in a move to appease President Trump, who has moved swiftly to shut down the border and crack down on drug smuggling.The U.S. troops, part of the Army’s 7th Special Forces Group, will come “fully armed as part of a mission to train the Mexican Navy’s Infantería de Marina,” according to the Border Report. They will report for duty this week and will train Mexican troops until the end of March, according to Senator Alejandro Moreno Cardenas, who is the president of the Mexican Senate’s Naval Ministry Commission.The Senate commission voted unanimously to approve the mission, which came at the request of Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, the senator said.Reports of American troops’ involvement come as the Mexican president confirmed Tuesday reports that U.S. drones are flying over the country as part of a “little campaign.” The move suggests that Mexico may be warming up to the idea of increasing American involvement in the country’s often-futile efforts against the cartels.The 7th Special Forces Group has conducted recent operations in Panama, Peru, and Ecuador. They also participated in Operation Just Cause, which culminated in the 1990 capture of Panamanian dictator General Manuel Noriega, who was convicted on charges of drug trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering and sentenced to 40 years in prison.The move comes after Ms. Sheinbaum persuaded Mr. Trump earlier this month to hold off on levying 25 percent tariffs on Mexican exports to the United States, vowing to step up its fight against the drug cartels, especially those smuggling fentanyl into the United States.For right now, the mission is training, not enforcement. “It’s important to say the Green Berets’ role is going to be just that: Training,” the vice president of intelligence for international security consultant TorchStone Global, Scott Stewart, told Border Report. “It’s not like they’re sending in the SEALs, the Delta (Force) or the (Army) Rangers. It’s not like we are seeing the deployment of combat troops or combat aircraft.”On his first day in office, Mr. Trump signed an executive order calling for a crackdown on major drug cartels. Last month, the administration designated six Mexican cartels and criminal groups in Mexico as foreign terrorist organizations.The dispatch of the Green Berets also comes amid reports of an American spy plane flying over off the coasts of Baja California and Sinaloa. That, too, appears to have occurred with the assent of the Mexican president. “We are not alarmed. They are flying over their territory and what we are asking for is coordination and collaboration,” Ms. Sheinbaum said.Meanwhile, the Central Intelligence Agency is conducting secret drone flights over Mexico in its search for fentanyl labs, according to reports Tuesday. The CIA “has not been authorized to use the drones to take lethal action,” and will merely pass along data to Mexican officials, the New York Times reports. In addition, the Trump administration also deployed 10,000 troops to the southern border this month to target cartel smuggling and is demanding that Mexico do more to destroy fentanyl labs and seize more of the drug.

Mexico Warms Up to Trump’s War on Drug Cartels

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