November 20, 2025 | 06:39 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Mexico has rejected a new proposal from U.S. President Donald Trump, who suggested he would launch military strikes against cartel targets in Mexico.
President Claudia Sheinbaum said the idea is “not feasible” and stressed that Mexico will not accept any form of foreign military intervention.
According to Al Jazeera, Sheinbaum addressed the issue during her morning press conference after Trump publicly floated the possibility of taking aggressive action to stop drug trafficking into the United States.
When asked about potential U.S. strikes inside Mexico, Sheinbaum said, “It’s not going to happen.
"But I have told him on every occasion that we can collaborate, that they can help us with information they have, but that we operate in our territory, that we do not accept any intervention by a foreign government.”
She said Trump had raised the idea several times in conversations involving U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and that she had rejected the proposal each time.
The issue re-emerged after Trump, speaking alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino in the Oval Office, said he would consider “attacks in Mexico” if necessary to halt drug flows.
He added that he is “not happy with Mexico” and that the United States would do “whatever needs to be done” to target criminal groups, based on reports from France 24.
Trump’s comments came as scrutiny grows over a U.S. bombing operation targeting boats suspected of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. The operation has involved at least 21 missile strikes that killed 83 people.
UN officials and legal experts have described the operation as unlawful killings. Families of victims in Venezuela, Colombia, and Trinidad and Tobago say their relatives were fishermen, not drug smugglers.
Two survivors were repatriated in October, one to Colombia and the other to Ecuador, without charges.
Trump defended the strikes by repeating his unproven claim that “with every ship we destroy, we save 25,000 American lives,” although there is no evidence to support that number.
He has also justified expanding military actions by labeling drug cartels as “enemy combatants” in a “non-international armed conflict” and by citing a secret order he reportedly signed in August.
In addition, he has designated several cartels as “foreign terrorist organizations,” although the designation does not authorize military attacks under U.S. or international law.
Trump’s statements have revived longstanding fears in Mexico. The country has a long and often painful history with U.S. military intervention in Latin America. Similar concerns were widely discussed during Trump’s first term from 2017 to 2021.
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