US President Donald Trump ordered the US military to use force against Latin American drug cartels, US media reported on Friday. According to The New York Times, Trump instructed the Pentagon to begin targeting the cartels that were deemed terrorist organisations militarily, while The Wall Street Journal reported he ordered the Defense Department to draft operational plans.
Trumpis moving to target Latin American drug cartels with the military, US media said Friday, after Washington designated several narcotics trafficking groups as "terrorist" organisations earlier this year.
The New York Timesreported that Trump has directed thePentagonto begin using military force against cartels that were deemed terrorist organisations, while the Wall Street Journal said the president ordered the Defense Department to prepare options to do so.
The Journal said the use of special forces and the provision of intelligence support were among the options under discussion, and that any action would be coordinated with foreign partners.
The Pentagon referred questions to the White House.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly, while not confirming the reports, said in a statement that Trump's "top priority is protecting the homeland, which is why he took the bold step to designate several cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations".
The United States designatedVenezuela's Tren de Aragua,Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel and six otherdrug traffickinggroups with Latin American roots as terror groups in February.
Trump's administration has since added another Venezuelan gang, the Cartel of the Suns, which has allegedly shipped hundreds of tons of narcotics into the United States over two decades.
The president signed an executive order on January 20, his first day back in the White House, creating a process for such designations, saying the cartels "constitute a national-security threat beyond that posed by traditional organised crime."
Trump vowed in March to "wage war" on Mexico's drug cartels, which he accused of rape and murder as well as "posing a grave threat" to national security.
Mexican counterpartClaudia Sheinbaum, following the reports of potential US military action against cartels, insisted on Friday that there would be "no invasion" of her country.
Sheinbaum has made strenuous efforts to show Trump she is acting against Mexico's cartels, whom he accuses of flooding the United States with drugs, particularlyfentanyl.
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"We are cooperating, we are collaborating, but there will be no invasion. That is absolutely ruled out," she said.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Originally published on France24
