Gerardo Fernández Noroña, President of the Board of Directors in the Senate, vehemently rejected a possible military intervention by the United States in Mexico after Donald Trump assumed the presidency and signed an order declaring Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations.
"This is something big. We have to do it... they are killing our people, they have killed 300 thousand Americans a year, not 100 as reported in the last 15 years," Trump stated in reference to the cartels. When asked if the decision might involve attacks on the cartels in Mexican territory, the U.S. president left that possibility open.
In response, Fernández Noroña reiterated that Mexico would not accept a military intervention from the United States. In a press conference in the Senate of the Republic, he expressed, "With this designation (terrorists) they have tried to justify military intervention in other countries, we will not accept it in any way."
The President of the Senate indicated that if the United States seeks to combat the drug problem, Trump should start in his own territory, where drug distribution operates with little obstruction. Noroña also emphasized that they reject any possibility of military intervention in Mexico and considers it a complicated measure to carry out.
By designating drug cartels as terrorists, these groups will enter a list of organizations that includes ISIS and Al-Qaeda, where U.S. citizens and companies are prohibited from providing "material support." In this situation, Mexico is reluctant to that designation and the implications it would entail.
