The governments of Mexico and the United States established a high -level group that will meet regularly to monitor mutual commitments, including measures to counteract drug cartels, strengthen border security, prevent fuel theft and address illicit financial flows, both nations reported Wednesday.
In a joint statement, issued after a meeting between the Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaumand the US secretary of state, Frame Blondthe governments of both countries They reaffirmed their safety cooperationbased on the principles of reciprocity, respect for territorial sovereignty and integrity, shared and differentiated responsibility, as well as mutual trust.
Rubio held an hour and a half meeting with Sheinbaum at the Government Palace before heading a press conference together with the Mexican Chancellor, Juan Ramón de la Fuente.
Few expect that the United States, under the command of an unpredictable Donald Trump, launches in Mexico an attack similar to that executed against an alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean. The more than his leftist president has focused on cooperation within the complicated relationship with Washington.
However, the United States Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegsethsaid Wednesday that the operation that killed 11 alleged drug traffickers near Venezuela is “a very clear sign that this is an activity that the United States will not tolerate” in the hemisphere.
On Wednesday, shortly before receiving Rubio, Sheinbaum declared that “it is not true” that it is scared and that Mexico is controlled by drug trafficking cartels, as Trump said last week in an interview.
The popular president has insisted that any American military “intervention” in Mexico is a red line.
“We do not accept subordination, but simply a collaboration between nations in equal circumstances,” Sheinbaum had pointed out on Tuesday.
Trump said that the “drug traffickers” killed in the attack were part of the Venezuelan criminal group of Aragua, designated as “terrorist” organization by the United States.
The AFP has not been able to verify the number of people in the boat or their identities.
Army against posters
The military action marked an escalation in the actions of the United States, after Trump signed an executive order authorizing the use of the army against drug trafficking cartels.
United States “will use all its power to face and eradicate these drug cartels, regardless of where they operate,” Rubio said on Tuesday.
But Venezuela is a singular case, since the United States does not recognize the legitimacy of the president Nicolás Ripea leftist whose last choice in 2024 was denounced as fraudulent by the opposition.
Sheinbaum, also from the left, has sought a pragmatic relationship with Trump, who has expressed respect for her despite her hard comments in the past about Mexicans.
Like its predecessor and partner Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Sheinbaum has largely cooperated with Trump in his key priority of curbing migration to the United States.
Mexico has reinforced surveillance in its bordering areas in recent years, including its own southern border, an entrance door for Latin American migrants and other continents to the United States.
The Trump administration has already imposed a series of new sanctions in the hope of weakening the main cartels in Mexico.
The Republican blames drug traffickers for fentanyl flow, the powerful synthetic opioid behind an overdose epidemic in the United States.
Sheinbaum, in turn, has undertaken legal actions against American weapons manufacturers due to violence in Mexican soil.
Mexico, which has more strict controls on weapons, says that between 200,000 and 750,000 weapons made in the United States are trafficked through the common border every year, many of which are found in crimes scenes.
