United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that the U.S. and Mexico are “amplifying” their security cooperation as the two countries seek to combat organized crime groups and the narcotics they traffic on both sides of the border and around the world.
Speaking alongside Mexican Foreign Affairs Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente at a press conference in Mexico City after a meeting with President Claudia Sheinbaum, Rubio also said that the current security cooperation between the United States and Mexico is the “closest … we have ever had, maybe with any country.”
His remarks came after de la Fuente read out a “joint statement on security cooperation” that highlighted that the Mexican and U.S. governments have “established a high-level implementation group to meet regularly and follow up on mutual commitments and actions taken within their own countries.”
The establishment of that group is the main new development in the Mexico-U.S. security relationship.
Rubio: ‘We’ve always cooperated … we’re talking about amplifying that’
During a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, switched between Spanish and English in his opening remarks and in response to questions from reporters.
Asked what the “ideal scenario” would be for security cooperation between the United States and Mexico, the secretary of state first stressed that the two countries have “always cooperated.”
“There’s always been law enforcement cooperation. We’re talking about amplifying that, we have already started to do it,” Rubio said.
“This is a great example — let’s say there is a gun-running group that is coming out of the United States headed into Mexico, we identify it [but] we don’t get there in time to stop it. “We pass that [information] onto the Mexican authorities who can act,” he said.
“Likewise, they can identify a drug shipment that’s headed our way, maybe it got past their systems but now is in the United States and we can act on it,” Rubio said.
He also said “there are opportunities to cooperate on equipment,” explaining that Mexico may have an interest in purchasing some U.S. equipment and vice versa.
That remark appeared to be a reference to U.S. military and/or law enforcement equipment, perhaps drones, that U.S. authorities have recently flown over Mexico to monitor cartel activity.
Rubio said that bilateral security cooperation “also has to do with joint training.”
“Maybe there are things they [Mexico] do operationally that they have learned from their time taking on the cartels that would serve us on our side of the border, or vice versa things that we have learned from a training standpoint that they would benefit from,” he said.
“That’s the kind of cooperation we’re going to amplify on and operate together on, and I think it’s very valuable. That’s always existed at a certain level. What we’re talking about now is formalizing it, systemizing it, making it a regular ongoing feature of broader cooperation on an issue of mutual concern,” Rubio said.
‘The aim is to work together to dismantle transnational organized crime’
At the start of the press conference, de la Fuente read out a “Joint Statement on Security Cooperation between the United States and Mexico” that was issued by both Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the U.S. Department of State.
“The Governments of Mexico and the United States reaffirm our security cooperation, which is based on the principles of reciprocity, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, shared and differentiated responsibility, as well as mutual trust,” the statement says.
“The aim is to work together to dismantle transnational organized crime through enhanced cooperation between our respective national security and law enforcement institutions and judicial authorities. Additionally, we are working to address the illegal movement of people across the border. This cooperation through specific and immediate actions will strengthen the security along our shared border, halt the trafficking of fentanyl and other illicit drugs, and stop arms trafficking,” the statement continues.
The Mexican and U.S. governments also said that they have “established a high-level implementation group to meet regularly and follow up on mutual commitments and actions taken within their own countries, including measures to”:
- “Counter the cartels
- Strengthen border security and eliminate clandestine border tunnels
- Address illicit financial flows
- Enhance collaboration to prevent fuel theft
- Increase inspections, investigations, and prosecutions to stop the flow of drugs and arms.”
The statement said that “close coordination” between the Mexican and U.S. governments “has allowed us to secure the border, reduce fentanyl trafficking, and advance intelligence sharing, all within our respective legal frameworks.”
“The two governments further intend to strengthen collaboration in public health and coordinate campaigns to prevent the abuse of illicit substances and opioids. Both governments reaffirm their determination to cooperate, protect our citizens, and make our communities safer,” it concluded.
In a brief statement on social media, Sheinbaum said that the Mexican and U.S. governments, after “several months of work,” had agreed to a “cooperation program on border security and law enforcement” — what she previously referred to as a new security agreement and a new security “understanding,” creating the impression that a more substantial pact was to be announced during Rubio’s visit.
She said the “program” is based on the principles mentioned in the joint statement, namely reciprocity, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, shared and differentiated responsibility and mutual trust.
‘An excellent meeting with President Sheinbaum’
In his opening remarks at his press conference with de la Fuente, Rubio said that he had “an excellent meeting with President Sheinbaum” and Mexico’s foreign minister.
“In fact, we’ve had a great relationship with the government of Mexico during the eight months of the Trump presidency. It is the closest security cooperation we have ever had, maybe with any country, but certainly in the history of U.S.-Mexico relations,” he said.
“I think that much credit is really deserved to President Sheinbaum and her administration in really taking things on that had not been taken on for a very long time,” Rubio said, referring to the Mexican government’s efforts to combat cartels and drug trafficking.
He noted that Mexico has recently sent 55 cartel figures to the United States to face U.S. criminal charges, and highlighted that “the migration numbers today at the U.S. southern border are the lowest they have ever been” due to the “efforts” of both the Trump and Sheinbaum administrations.
Rubio also said that the establishment of the “high-level implementation group” consisting of U.S. and Mexican officials “means a lot.”
“This is a high-level group that will meet and coordinate on a regular basis to make sure that all the things we are working on, all the things we have agreed to work on, are happening, are being implemented,” he said.
For his part, De la Fuente said that Rubio’s presence in Mexico “ratifies the good relationship and the great collaboration that exists” between Mexico and the U.S. and which “will continue in the coming months and years.”
He said that Mexico and the United States had reached “a very good understanding to give shape and continuity to a program of cooperation.”
Rubio: ‘The president of the United States is going to wage war on narco-terrorist organizations’
Asked about the United States strike on Tuesday on a drug-carrying vessel from Venezuela that United States President Donald Trump said killed 11 “terrorists” that allegedly belonged to the Tren de Aragua criminal organization, Rubio said:
“The United States has long … established intelligence that allows us to interdict and stop drug boats and we did that and it doesn’t work. Interdiction doesn’t work because these drug cartels what they do is that they know they’re going to lose 2% of their cargo and they bake it into their economics. What will stop them is when you blow them up, when you get rid of them. So they were designated as what they are; they are narco-terrorist organizations. … The president of the United States is going to wage war on narco-terrorist organizations. This one was operating in international waters headed toward the United States to flood our country with poison and under President Trump those days are over.”
Six of the criminal organizations the United States has designated as foreign terrorist organizations are Mexican drug cartels, including the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
While Rubio said that Trump will “wage war” on such organizations, a U.S. military attack targeting Mexican drug cartels on Mexican soil doesn’t appear likely to occur any time soon. The “respect for sovereignty” principle mentioned in the joint statement issued by the Mexican and U.S. governments on Wednesday would be broken if the U.S. acted unilaterally against Mexican cartels in Mexico, as Sheinbaum is vehemently opposed to any kind of U.S. intervention.
Rubio commits US to stopping flow of weapons to Mexico
Rubio also said that as part of the U.S.-Mexico “security plan,” the U.S. government will “stop the flow or armaments” to Mexico and other Western Hemisphere countries.
“And it’s not just Mexico, by the way. Those arms are flowing to Haiti, they’re flowing to Jamaica, they’re flowing to Trinidad, they’re flowing into the Caribbean and we’re going to put a stop to it. That is part of our implementation plan,” he said.
The Mexican government has long called on the United States to do more to stop the flow of firearms to Mexico, where they are used by cartel members and other criminals to commit crimes, including murder.
Will the United States’ ‘fentanyl tariffs’ on Mexican imports be lifted?
A reporter asked Rubio whether the announcement on Wednesday of the bilateral security “cooperation agreement” would result in the U.S. government removing the 25% “fentanyl tariff” on Mexican goods that don’t comply with the USMCA free trade pact.
The tariff took effect in early March due to what the White House said was a failure by Mexico to take adequate action against “the influx of lethal drugs” to the U.S.
Rubio noted that he doesn’t negotiate trade agreements, but said he would “certainly go back” to the United States and make other U.S. officials aware of “the level of cooperation that exists with regard to security.”
“We’ve made tremendous progress and obviously I know even as I speak to you today the economic team from Mexico is in Washington meeting with [U.S. Trade Representative] Ambassador Greer and also meeting with Commerce Secretary Lutnick. … Obviously we hope that will come to some positive result at some point soon because our economic relations are very important and we have a lot to build on with the successes of the USMCA,” he said.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
