It’s Time: Trump Can – And Should – Strike Latin American Terror Cartels

And no, it won’t be an “invasion.” On Friday, The New York Times reported that President Trump, citing a “clear and present danger,” (yes, just like the Tom Clancy movie) directed the military to target foreign narco-terrorist cartels and launch direct operations against them.

And he can’t act against this serious growing threat a moment too soon.

When asked if he would send U.S. forces to Latin America to take on the cartels, Trump replied:

“Well, Latin America’s got a lot of cartels and they’ve got a lot of drugs flowing. So, you know, we want to protect our country. We have to protect our country. We haven’t been doing it for four years. And we love this country like they love their countries. We have to protect our country,” Trump said.

“So, you know, we’re playing a tough game, but we’ll have more to say about that soon,” he added.

Meanwhile, the order provides an official basis for the possibility of direct military operations at sea and on foreign soil against cartels. (RELATED: Pentagon Unveils New Military Beast — Ready To Dominate The Skies)

U.S. military officials have started drawing up options for how the military could go after the groups. While the order does not commit U.S. forces to any immediate action, it does open the door to a range of military tools from naval interdictions and special operations raids to intelligence-driven strikes on cartel infrastructure.

Mexico’s leftist president, Claudia Sheinbaum, long accused of being in bed with the cartels, quickly vowed that U.S. attacks on cartels would be an “invasion” and are “off the table.”

“The United States is not going to come to Mexico with the military. We cooperate, we coordinate but there won’t be an invasion… that is ruled out,” Sheinbaum said.

In April, Trump proposed to Sheinbaum that she allow the U.S. military to fight drug cartels on her nation’s soil, but she rejected the idea.

However, limited U.S. military strikes against international terrorists operating with virtual impunity from across our southern border would not be an invasion. That term applies much more correctly to the millions of illegal aliens and unvetted foreigners that stormed across the border from Mexico over the last many years.

And Trump doesn’t need Mexico’s permission, or any other nation’s, for targeted strikes against cartels any more than President Barack Obama needed permission for his expanded deadly drone strike campaigns throughout the Middle East during our global war on terror, or those of other U.S. presidents.

The U.S. could conduct targeted operations or airstrikes on suspected drug labs and cartel leaders even without Mexico’s consent.

Recall also that, as the Times reported, in 1989, “President George H.W. Bush sent more than 20,000 troops into Panama to arrest its strongman leader, Manuel Noriega, who had been indicted in the United States on charges of drug trafficking.”

The Times added:

Ahead of the operation, William P. [Bill] Barr, who then led the Office of Legal Counsel and was the attorney general in Mr. Trump’s first term, wrote a disputed memo saying it was within Bush’s authority to direct law-enforcement arrests of fugitives overseas without the consent of foreign states.

So, our military could go even further arresting Mexican cartel leaders on Mexican soil.

As Politico reported:

…even before the Pentagon directive, the Trump administration had gradually laid the groundwork in other ways for additional efforts against the Mexican cartels. The administration has designated Mexican drug cartels foreign terrorist organizations, preemptively giving itself legal standing for military action.

The administration also has considerable leverage over Mexico, which could get … SHEINBAUM — who has so far managed to stay on Trump’s good side — to rethink her current opposition. Mexico’s economy is deeply tied to the United States, and pushback to Trump’s plans could trigger tariffs or other reprisals from Washington. Those consequences might be more politically damaging for Sheinbaum than limited U.S. strikes and force Sheinbaum to at least acquiesce to the U.S. military actions.

The upshot appears to be that, despite the critics, naysayers, and nervous nellies, and the required pro-forma public resistance from Sheinbaum, it is just as likely that the U.S. and Mexico will quietly work together to degrade the cartels.

Politico notes:

“In public, it’s one thing. But things are discussed and closely coordinated behind closed doors,” said a person familiar with the bilateral relationship under Trump. “The relationship under Trump 2 and Sheinbaum is 100 percent better than the relationship when [former President ANDRÉS MANUEL LÓPEZ OBRADOR] was in office.”

Still, Politico adds:

…analysts and former officials say the U.S. would likely be lacking critical intelligence and logistical support in efforts to try and chase down cartels on their home turf. And it’s not clear that a low-cost campaign with missile and drone strikes would have enough firepower to dislodge cartels that have sometimes outgunned and outwitted Mexico.

But I’m fairly certain that a well-planned and orchestrated multi-dimensional U.S. campaign will be effective. (RELATED: Major Trump Legacy Move Set To Unfold Up North)

Secretary of State and acting National Security Advisor Marco Rubio said that the cartels are being armed like terrorists or armies that control territory. “We have to start treating them as armed terrorist organizations, not simply drug dealing organizations,” Rubio added.

And he’s not exaggerating. See here an armed convoy of Mexico’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel (Spanish abbreviation: CJNG) troops.

Labeling the cartels as terrorist groups allows the United States “to use other elements of American power, intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, whatever, to target these groups if we have an opportunity to do it,” he said.

And Mexico is not the only narco-country on Trump’s radar. There is at least one other big one.

Two weeks ago, the administration announced that it was imposing sanctions on the Venezuelan group Cartel de los Soles, which the Treasury Department accused of providing material support to Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico, which it said in turn were “threatening the peace and security of the United States.”

Rubio then followed with a statement accusing Maduro of stealing elections and saying he was not the president of Venezuela and that his “regime is not the legitimate government.”

“Maduro is the leader of the designated narco-terrorist organization Cartel de los Soles, and he is responsible for trafficking drugs into the United States and Europe,” Rubio said. “Maduro, currently indicted by our nation, has corrupted Venezuela’s institutions to assist the cartel’s criminal narco-trafficking scheme into the United States.”

We should soon see increased surgical U.S. military and intelligence operations against cartels in at least these two countries. And it’s long overdue.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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