Wednesday, February 12, 2025

LeBaron massacre was not an act of terrorism, Sheinbaum says: Friday’s mañanera recapped

This Saturday, the United States will impose a 25% tariff on Mexican and Canadian exports, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Friday.

United States President Donald Trump said Thursday that the tariffs were coming because Mexico and Canada have allowed migrants and drugs to enter the U.S., and because the U.S. has large trade deficits with those two countries.

At her Friday morning press conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum said that her government was prepared for whatever decision the Trump administration made with regard to tariffs, while Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard highlighted the negative effect the duties would have on consumers in the United States. (Read Mexico News Daily’s report on their remarks here.)

In addition to tariffs, Sheinbaum spoke about a range of other issues at her Friday mañanera, including a judge’s ruling in relation to a 2019 massacre in the northern border state of Sonora.

Sheinbaum disagrees with terrorism designation of 2019 massacre of 9 Mexican-US citizens 

A reporter noted that a federal judge earlier this month directed the Federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) to investigate the 2019 massacre of three women and six children in northern Mexico as an act of terrorism.

The victims, members of the extended LeBaron family, were ambushed by alleged cartel gunmen in Sonora on Nov. 4, 2019. La Linea, a faction of the Juárez Cartel, is alleged to have killed the women and children, members of an American Mexican Mormon family.

One of the funerals held for the nine people murdered in Chihuahua November 4.
Earlier this month, a federal judge designated the 2019 murder of nine members of a border-zone Mormon family as an act of terrorism. (File photo)

Sheinbaum said that her government didn’t agree with the judge’s determination that the massacre was an act of terrorism.

“Of course we have to work permanently against criminal groups, but, as the security minister and the defense minister have explained here, the connotation of terrorism is different,” she said.

The reporter asked Sheinbaum whether the terrorism designation by the judge was an “act of justice” for the families who lost loved ones in late 2019.

“Justice is being served,” she said. “… A lot of people have been arrested in connection with this criminal act and [there is] comprehensive justice for the families,” the president said.

The federal judge’s directive for the FGR to investigate the attack as an act of terrorism came just days before Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States. On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order “Designating cartels and other organizations as foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists.”

The Trump administration’s designation of specific Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations could occur as soon as next week.

After the 2019 massacre of the women and children in Sonora, President Trump said on Twitter (now X) that the United States was prepared to offer assistance to combat Mexico’s notorious cartels.

Donald Trump and Andrés Manuel López Obrador
In 2019, then-President López Obrador declined U.S. assistance in “cleaning out” those responsible for the LeBaron killings. (Cuartoscuro)

“If Mexico needs or requests help in cleaning out these monsters, the United States stands ready, willing & able to get involved and do the job quickly and effectively,” Trump wrote.

“… This is the time for Mexico, with the help of the United States, to wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the Earth. We merely await a call from your great new president!” he said.

Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mexico’s president at the time, declined the offer.

Asked last week whether he would consider “ordering U.S. special forces into Mexico” to “take out” cartels, Trump said it “could happen.”

“Stranger things have happened,” said the U.S. president, who last year indicated he was open to using military “strikes” against Mexican cartels.

‘We don’t agree with the treatment of migrants as criminals’

Sheinbaum also responded to a question about Trump’s apparent plan to send tens of thousands of migrants to the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.

A guard tower behind a barbed wire fence at Guantanamo Bay
In response to Trump’s plan to use the U.S. military outpost of Guantanamo Bay to hold migrants, Sheinbaum expressed a wish for “international law and human the protection of human rights to prevail.” (Joint Task Force Guantanamo/Flickr)

“Obviously we don’t agree with the treatment of migrants as criminals. And we’re always going to look for international law and the protection of human rights to prevail,” she said.

Sheinbaum said that her government hadn’t spoken to the Trump administration about the plan to hold “criminal aliens” at the U.S. facility at Guantanamo Bay, where terrorism suspects are detained.

However, she stressed that Mexican and U.S. authorities are collaborating on the issue of migration.

“We’re in permanent dialogue and there is very good coordination,” Sheinbaum said.

Government will continue to hire Cuban doctors 

Toward the end of her Friday morning press conference, Sheinbaum said that the federal government will continue to hire doctors from Cuba and other foreign countries to fill positions in Mexico.

“Where specialist doctors are needed in our country and there is solidarity from [doctors from] other countries to come and help our health services, the hiring will continue because what takes precedence is health care for the people,” she said.

The federal government announced last July that 2,700 Cuban medical specialists would come to Mexico to work, joining 950 Cuban doctors already in the country.

Mexican medical associations have opposed the hiring of Cuban doctors, saying that there are many out-of-work Mexican physicians who could fill vacant positions.

By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])

21 COMMENTS

  1. She’s running out of excuses, they said , we don’t fight the Cartel because the loss of soldiers lives , now Mr Trump offers to take care of those sicarios , what is she waiting for to say Yes , go ahead and end this situación once and for all without Mexican soldiers firing a single bullet ??

    • How did Mexico City reduce homicides by 45% under Sheinbaum? It wasn’t by allowing the US military into the city, that’s for sure. Let her and her people do their job; they’re more intelligent and capable than anyone in US leadership right now

      • The violence in CDMX was more old fashioned street crime and low level drug dealing. It wasnt dominated by the large scale cartel wars as we currently se in Sinaloa. Taking on the cartels does often require a fullilitary response
        Luckily the Mexican Srmy and Marines are well trained and equipped. The people trust them far more than the police.

    • he offered the last president not her.

      Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mexico’s president at the time, declined the offer.

      Asked last week whether he would consider “ordering U.S. special forces into Mexico” to “take out” cartels, Trump said it “could happen.”

  2. poor Mexico, she is but a cartoon puppet and a homely female version of AMLO (who pulls her strings). I finally saw her at the absurd and time wasting mananera and her manners, cadence of speech is a carbon copy of AMLO.
    Mexico can do better as within the corrupt political class there should be one or two honest leaders

    • Thats a cheap and inappropriate comment. She is an obviously bright and professional woman. Yes she is politically aligned with AMLO and shares his views on most issue. But her style is very different
      The people chose her, overwhelming.. Her politica are not mine but I haven’t seen any evidence that she or AMLO profited from thei service.

      • then sorry to say you are blind and probably not deep into understanding the ugliest side of Mexican politics. Stay tuned you will see in time

    • So good to know Eric that you are so incredibly smart and know so much about the secrets behind Mexican politics. Really looking forward to your future lessons and insights.

  3. As bright and educated as President Sheinbaum may be, she missed the lesson on taunting. How did she think that Trump would react to her proclamation that he would not impose tariffs.
    Her denial of the border shooting incident, in the face of credible reports and video, did nothing for her credibility.

  4. Let’s be honest and clear. The president of the usa is a convicted felon, a rapist, a racist, an insurrectionist and a tax cheat. He called himself a person who grabs her………….. Google says he has been accused of 26 sexual assaults. He is about to destroy the North American trade agreement II which was approved by the US Senate. While the felon president won a greater number of votes, 75 million voted adamantly against him. Forty million did not vote. Trump is about to start a civil war among Americans. Presidenta Sheinbaum and Mexicans should not let themselves be bullied by this vile creature.

  5. I’m going to dodge the politics and focus on some legal issues. The illegality of Trump’s tariffs is an issue but with the tariff reprieve need not be addressed now. If that mass murder was terrorism of some type, la Presidente should be quoted as to why not. All illegal aliens are trespassers which isn’t criminal in a windfall those trespassers (try trespassing on private property); MAGA’s aren’t smart nor honest enough to make that a crime. Only criminal migrants are to go to the Guantanamo base until Trump decides to include non-criminals. Were I la Presidente, I’d negotiate towards joining forces to quell cartel subversion of government, clergy, and media and keep the rest in the “hug” zone just as is done in the U.S.A.

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Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum at the presidential podium touching her right ear with the fingers of her right hand as she speaks to reporters.

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