“Sol Prendido” for Borderland Beat
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum reiterated on Wednesday that it is “absolutely false” that drug cartels govern the country, as U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed, and emphasized her rejection of the possibility of U.S. military intervention in Mexico to combat organized crime.
“It’s false. It’s absolutely false… In Mexico, the people govern, and no one else,” she said at her daily press conference.
Sheinbaum also insisted that the United States must “do its part” in the fight against drug trafficking and underscored her rejection of a U.S. intervention in the country, as she said her U.S. counterpart had suggested in their various telephone conversations.
“Many times, President Trump, in the calls we’ve had, has told me that they want to help more with joint operations, with U.S. military entering Mexico,” she said.
“And we have told him no for one reason,” she stressed, “Mexico is a free, independent, and sovereign country. And so far, there has been respect.”
Trump has insisted in recent weeks that Washington will not hesitate to use its military power to defend its national security, which he considers threatened by Mexican cartels, a claim that has been categorically rejected by Mexico.
In the last two weeks, Sheinbaum and Trump have held two telephone calls described as “cordial” and “productive” by both sides, although the pressure from the White House on security matters hasn’t ceased.
Source: El Siglo de Torreón