▲ Mexico collaborates and accepts information from the US, but the actions are carried out by national institutions, says the president.Photo Presidency
Alonso Urrutia and Emir Olivares
La Jornada Newspaper
Wednesday, November 5, 2025, p. 7
“It’s not going to happen,” President Claudia Sheinbaum ruled out without nuance when referring to the presence of US troops in Mexico to combat organized crime.
He pointed out that between Mexico and the United States there is a mechanism of understanding that was updated during the visit of the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, in which the terms of collaboration and coordination of actions in various areas of the bilateral agenda were agreed, with respect to sovereignties.
He recalled that on several occasions, during their telephone conversations, Trump has offered him a greater presence in Mexican territory to combat the drug cartels. Always, he said, I have thanked him for the offer, but in all cases he has argued the exercise of Mexican sovereignty to emphasize that our country may collaborate and accept US information, but the actions are carried out by the national security institutions.
Regarding the meeting he held the day before with Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture of the United States, he admitted that there are still no conditions to set a date for reopening the border to Mexican cattle, suspended due to the emergence of the screwworm plague.
However, the president explained that “she is aware – she also expressed it – that the fact that the border is not open for the export of livestock also affects them, even in the price of meat, which has increased. And we agree that what we do not want is for there to be a worm infection that spreads to the north of our country. But she left very convinced that we are working adequately for both nations, obviously.”
Sheinbaum reported that there is 30 percent progress in the construction of the fly production plant that helps contain this pest, so its completion is projected towards the first half of 2026. There is agreement on the actions that must be carried out for the reopening and on the need to resume the export of Mexican livestock to the United States, but there must be clear technical parameters to achieve this, and based on these technical specifications the closing or opening of the border will be determined.
