WASHINGTON (Reuters) — President Donald Trump said today he supports aggressive action against drug cartels and narcotics production in Mexico and Colombia, his latest saber-rattling in the region after a series of strikes on small boats in the Caribbean and Pacific.
Trump has intensified his campaign against maritime drug trafficking, authorizing more forceful interdiction operations and giving U.S. forces expanded authority to disable or sink vessels suspected of carrying narcotics.
Asked at an event in the Oval Office whether he backed similar ground strikes in Mexico to stem drug trafficking, Trump said: “OK with me, whatever we have to do to stop drugs.”
While he stopped short of announcing any direct U.S. military intervention, he later raised the prospect of targeting cocaine laboratories in Colombia.
“Would I knock out those factories? I would be proud to do it personally,” Trump said. “I didn’t say I’m doing it, but I would be proud to do it because we’re going to save millions of lives.”
Trump’s comments are in contrast to remarks by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who last week said there would be no U.S. military intervention in Mexico and that cooperation between the two countries was at an “all-time high.”
“We’re not going to take unilateral action or go in and send American forces into Mexico, but we can help them with equipment, with training, with intelligence sharing, with all kinds of things that we could do if they asked for it,” Rubio said to reporters in Canada.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has repeatedly boasted about good relations with Trump and his administration, denied earlier this month that any unilateral U.S. military action would take place following reports the U.S. had begun detailed planning for a new anti-cartel mission inside the country, including sending troops and intelligence officers to Mexico.
Trump and Colombian President Gustavo Petro have traded barbs over drug enforcement strategy, escalating tensions between Washington and Bogota. In October, the U.S. imposed sanctions on Petro, following Trump’s accusations that he has refused to stop the flow of cocaine into the U.S.
Last week, Petro ordered Colombian public security forces to suspend intelligence sharing with U.S. intelligence agencies until Washington stops attacking boats in the Caribbean.
Spokespeople for Sheinbaum and Petro did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Trump’s remarks today.
By REUTERS
Reporting By Andrea Shalal and Jarrett Renshaw; additional reporting by Daphne Psaledakis in Washington, Natalia Siniawski and Inigo Alexander in Mexico City; writing by Cassandra Garrison; Editing by Leslie Adler, Ross Colvin, Cynthia Osterman and Stephen Coates
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