The U.S. will not be sending military forces to Mexico or undertaking any unilateral actions in the fight against drug trafficking, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday.
“The United States will give support to Mexico against drug cartels only if the Mexican government makes a request,” he said. “We can provide them all the help they want, but obviously if they don’t want us to intervene, we’re not going to take unilateral decisions and … send American forces into Mexico.”
Rubio made these comments, which seemed timed to quell recent rumors of an imminent unilateral U.S. action, upon arriving in Hamilton, Ontario, ahead of the G-7 foreign minister meetings.
The U.S. secretary of state voiced concern about the escalating violence in the western state of Michoacán and elsewhere when asked about the Nov. 1 murder of Uruapan Mayor Carlos Manzo.
“There’ve been other mayors … journalists, different politicians and different judges who are victims of organized crime that controls and governs certain zones within Mexico,” he said.
Rubio confirmed that the U.S. government is committed to eradicating the cartels that “have more power than the federal forces.”
“These cartels are very powerful, you don’t have to be ideological to be a terrorist,” he said, confirming that he views them as terrorists, especially because “in many cases they possess better weapons, better training and more capabilities … than local and national forces.”
The U.S. foreign minister also decried the fact that “no one is talking about … the rise of these Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs).”
In February, U.S. President Donald Trump designated six Mexican cartels as FTOs.
Rubio said the U.S. is ready to provide Mexico with equipment, training and the exchange of intelligence, adding that “there are many types of things we can do if they ask … but they have to ask for it.”
Rubio’s comments were in contrast to a recent report that the U.S. government was preparing a mission to send troops to Mexico.
Report: Trump administration is planning a manned mission to fight cartels in Mexico
Citing current and former U.S. officials, NBC News reported on Nov. 3 that the U.S. “has begun detailed planning for a new mission to send American troops and intelligence officers into Mexico to target drug cartels.”
The report claimed that four current and former U.S. officials confirmed that the initial stages of training for ground operations within Mexico’s borders had already begun, although they insisted “deployment is not imminent.”
With reports from El País, Border Report and Milenio
