The United States will designate eight cartels from Latin America as “terrorist organisations,” according to the official US government journal, published on Wednesday.
The list includes five Mexican cartels: Sinaloa; Jalisco Nueva Generación; Nueva Familia Michoacana, Carteles Unidas, Cartel del Golfo and Cartel del Noreste. Also listed are the Venezuelan gang 'Tren de Aragua' and MS-13, a Central American gang.
A document signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and set to be published on Thursday, states that these groups threaten “the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States”.
US President Donald Trump signed a decree on 20 January designating cartels and other organisations as foreign terrorist groups, a move that expands the range of actions available to US authorities fighting organised crime.
The Mexican government opposes this measure, considering that it opens the door to US interference on its territory, and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is thinking of retaliating by broadening a complaint against US arms manufacturers, whom her government accuses of selling weapons to Mexican cartels. President Sheinbaum suggests that these manufacturers could be accused of complicity with terrorist groups.
“If organised crime groups are declared terrorists, we should broaden the complaint in the United States because, as acknowledged by the US Department of Justice, 74% of criminal groups’ weapons come from Texas, Arizona, or other US states,” President Sheinbaum said at press conference.
Donald Trump had accused the Mexican government of having links with organised crime, an accusation Sheinbaum described as slander.
Trump also threatened to impose a 25% tariff on products from Canada and Mexico, criticising these countries for not doing enough to reduce fentanyl trafficking.
The tariff imposition was postponed for a month after Mexico pledged to send an additional 10,000 soldiers to the US border to combat illegal immigration.
