Trump Pressure Campaign Leads to Mexican Cartel Crackdown and Historic Intelligence Cooperation

President Trump’s aggressive stance on Mexican drug cartels helped trigger a major shift in cross-border security cooperation, culminating in the extradition of nearly 100 suspected cartel members and a deadly raid over the weekend that eliminated one of Mexico’s most wanted drug lords.The Trump administration has steadily increased pressure on the government of Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, to escalate its fight against cartels, which Mr. Trump has designated as foreign terrorist organizations. That pressure campaign has included tariffs on Mexican goods and repeated public statements challenging Ms. Sheinbaum’s authority, with Mr. Trump claiming for months that cartels are running Mexico.In a Fox News interview last month, Mr. Trump claimed great success interdicting drugs coming into America by water before adding an ominous warning: “And we are going to start now hitting land, with regard to the cartels.” Senator Ted Cruz said that threat has been looking over Mexico since last summer. “In August of last year, I went down to Mexico …met with senior officials in the Mexican government. The message I conveyed to them was that they needed to get serious about fighting the cartels to stop the drug trafficking into America and to stop the human trafficking into America,” the Texas Republican said on Fox News. “I told them that if they didn’t get serious, President Trump was going to.”The Mexican government has quietly responded by shipping 92 suspected cartel drug traffickers to the United States to stand trial, according to the Justice Department. The suspects include the brother of the brutal leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, who was killed by the Mexican army on Sunday.“As President Trump has made clear, cartels are terrorist groups, and this Department of Justice is devoted to destroying cartels and transnational gangs,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said.“We will prosecute these criminals to the fullest extent of the law in honor of the brave law enforcement agents who have dedicated their careers — and in some cases, given their lives — to protect innocent people from the scourge of violent cartels,” she said.The U.S.-Mexico cooperation extends beyond extraditions. The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said America provided “intelligence support” to “assist” the Mexican government in the operation that “eliminated” El Mencho.A former American official told Reuters that America provided the Mexican government with a target package with information on El Mencho compiled by U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies.The Joint Interagency Task Force-Counter Cartel, a new task force involving multiple U.S. government agencies, was involved in the raid, Reuters reported. The task force was launched in January to “identify, disrupt, and dismantle cartel operations posing a threat to the United States along the US-Mexico border,” according to its website.The Trump administration has used its designation of drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations to justify escalating its war on drugs. Its campaign has included more than 40 strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, which have killed nearly 150 people.The latest Mexican military operation, backed by U.S. intelligence, cements a major turning point in the country’s security strategy since Ms. Sheinbaum took office nearly 17 months ago. Deeper security coordination with the U.S. government had already led to the extradition of dozens of cartel leaders, increased drug busts, and tougher actions against organized crime.Recent actions include the arrest of Diego Rivera, the mayor of the municipality of Tequila, along with three other local officials, over their alleged involvement in an extortion scheme in collusion with CJNG. Mexico has also deployed some 10,000 National Guard and Army personnel to its border with the United States to tackle drug smuggling and reduce migration.Sunday’s events show that, even with the government’s many shortcomings, it has the teeth to strike back, reducing the pressure for unilateral U.S. military action inside Mexico.The operation is also a win for Ms. Sheinbaum in other respects: It shows that bilateral security cooperation with the United States can pay off and that she is serious about fighting organized crime. That will win her credit with a Trump administration that has been rough in its treatment of America’s main trading partner.

Trump Pressure Campaign Leads to Mexican Cartel Crackdown and Historic Intelligence Cooperation

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