Before meeting with the nation’s mayors in Mexico City and traveling to the hurricane-battered city of Acapulco, President Claudia Sheinbaum held her penultimate morning press conference of the week at the National Palace.
Among the questions she fielded was one on remarks made by U.S. Senator and future secretary of state Marco Rubio and another on her meeting with Canadian business leaders on Wednesday.
Sen. Marco Rubio made the remarks during his Senate confirmation hearing to become the secretary of state under incoming U.S. president Donald Trump.
Sheinbaum will hold her final mañanera of the week in Acapulco, which was devastated by Hurricane Otis in October 2023 and hit hard by Hurricane John last September.
Sheinbaum agrees with Rubio — Mexico and the US should collaborate to combat cartels
A reporter asked Sheinbaum about the Mexico-related remarks made on Wednesday by Senator Marco Rubio — Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of state — during his Senate confirmation hearing.
Among the remarks Rubio made were that:
- “[Mexican cartels] are sophisticated criminal enterprises; they are terrorizing the United States, but they are sophisticated criminal enterprises.”
- “Sadly, they also have operational control over huge swaths of the border regions between Mexico and the United States.”
- “[U.S. military force against Mexican cartels] is an option the president has at his disposal. … I think President Trump is someone that never publicly discusses his options and leaves himself the flexibility to act.”
- “I think there is a lot we can and will continue to do in close partnership with our allies in Mexico [to combat cartels]. I think there is more they can do as well to confront this challenge.”
- “My preference would be, from the Department of State’s perspective, that we can work with Mexicans on this issue cooperatively because it is impacting their nation as much as ours.”
- “My hope, in a perfect world, is that we could work in close collaboration with Mexican authorities to take these groups out.”
Rubio initially said that the designation of Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations is “probably” an “imperfect tool” in the fight against transnational crime. However, he subsequently said it “may be the appropriate one.”
“… It is important for us not just to go after these groups but identify them and call them for what they are and that is terroristic in their nature,” Rubio said.
On Thursday, Sheinbaum said that her administration shares Rubio’s preference for “coordination” between Mexico and the United States on security issues.
“That is what we have been saying. That to attend to migration problems, security problems, drug-trafficking problems, the best thing is coordination at the highest level,” she said.
“Respecting each other’s sovereignty, we can collaborate and coordinate to reduce the crime rate in Mexico, avoid the passing of weapons from the United States to Mexico and at the same time we can contribute in all that is needed to reduce this fentanyl crisis they have in the United States,” Sheinbaum said.
The president described Rubio’s statement on his preference for security collaboration with Mexico as “very good,” and said it was “good news” that when Trump takes office next Monday there will be “space for this high-level coordination that is so important.”
She also said that Rubio acknowledged that the designation of cartels as terrorist organizations comes with “complications” due to the ways in which they operate.
After Trump declared in December that he would designate Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations on his first day in office, Sheinbaum said Mexico would never accept any interventionist actions, such as the use of the U.S. military on Mexican soil.
Canadian companies are ‘eager’ to keep working in Mexico, Sheinbaum says
Sheinbaum noted that she met on Wednesday with representatives of various Canadian companies. Among the companies represented at the meeting were Scotiabank, Linamar, Canadian National Railway Company, Martinrea International, Palliser Furniture, TC Energy, Teck Resources and WestJet Airlines.
“They’re eager to keep working with our country and we explained everything that is needed for investment within the framework we’ve set out,” said Sheinbaum, who presented an ambitious new economic plan earlier this week.
The president said there has to be “certain order in investment” so that it occurs where there are sufficient natural resources. She also said that foreign investment needs to come with the “guarantee” that it will create “well-paid jobs” in Mexico.
On those issues, there was “very good dialogue” with the Canadian business representatives, Sheinbaum said.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
We must admit that the United States has the biggest mafia in the world and it is centered in the White House. Presidente Sheibaum was smart when she did not react to Felon Trump’s public remarks about using the US military to invade Mexico to knock out Mexico’s drug cartels. Do we forget what the Felon president has said?
That would be the Russian mafia and BigCorps. Diluting “terrorism” as Rubio did to include trafficking in migrants and drugs serves to remind us how filth is rather evenly distributed especially considering the institutionalized demand in the USA for that trafficking. Instead it is the violence much of which is militaristic in nature that is the essence of terrorism and which is not a nessary part of trafficking.
I hope Sheinbaum is very careful, as trump and his crew are slimy bigots Ed liars. I’m an American and am so ashamed that he got in the 1st time and more ashamed and fearful of his second term. If he decides to put tariffs on Mexican I sincerely hope she responds with the same. We want to be friends with Mexico as it’s a great partner for the most part. I’m a white 79 year old woman and hope who ever reads this knows that most Americans with any sense didn’t vote for trump and some that did are already sorry.
Sincerely, Karen ( a friend of Mexico and it’s people)
Good for you in speaking out. Many people in the US are fearful of what a second Trump administration, partially comprised of self-serving billionaires, will bring, but none more than the immigrants in literal fear of their lives and the Americans who are in fear of their livelihoods, who are going to wake up and realize they have lost a huge part of their labor force and higher costs due to tariffs. It’s just a huge shame that they didn’t wake up sooner. Or read real news instead of fake. They deserve who we voted for, but most of us do not.
Rubio and Sheinbaum will disagree on a lot of things, Cuba for example. But they are both Hispanics, and will surely do their best to advance what Mexico already wants — reduce the power and reach of the cartels. But the other comments are right, in that Mexico will need to watch its wallet carefully.
Did y’all hear a different answer than I did? 1st, Rubio would sell out his mother to be on team Trump. The only way he even got to this stage in the process is because he’s been vetted and will be loyal to his master. All he did was double talk and try to save face in front of the Latin community. He distanced the State Dept from the Oval Office, and nowhere did he say anything to refute the President’s comments/promises. After all, he’s a Republican interviewing for a Cabinet position in the Trump administration. Sheinbaum is savvy enough to understand American political speak – or she is incredibly naive. And in regards to Canadian businesses, it doesn’t matter what they say or want, the politicians will call the shots. Of course they profit more off of Mexican labor – what would you expect them to say? Perhaps President Sheinbaum is trying to give the appearance of having things under control. Poor Mexican citizens might see this as her displaying strength, but there was nothing of substance said by either the business leaders or Mr Rubio.
Alot of very negative comments that do not reflect 80 million Americans and certainly do not represent all my American friends in our resort in Cabo San Lucas. My family is a military, our people fought for the freedom of thought, speech and liberty we all enjoy. To be fearful of the incoming administration is fine but many of us support the incoming administration so please put your hate speech aside and give these people a chance.
There is a potential political confrontation brewing over Cuba, between Mexico and Trump – Rubio.
I sense that Rubio is far more human than the average person in the white house to come. There can be no purity in politics but but he may be as good as they come.
Frankly I’m not sure many people care about Cuba. I for one think the sanctions of over 60 years are ridiculous at this point. On another note I agree with Terry and the US electorate has spoken and it’s been accepted correctly by the Democrats just as most Republicans accepted 2020. Yes, the problem in the US is there is way too much irrational hate ON BOTH SIDES. I used to have real conversations on politics and positions with people not anymore. I’m a 77 year old white man we believes in compromise.
As is often the case, there are some very good, diverse, thoughtful points articulated here with none of the personal insults of the olden days, thank you.