Trump Announces Strikes Against Drug Cartels in Mexico

President Donald Trump has announced new US strikes against drug cartels in Latin America, particularly in Mexico.

He said this in an interview with Fox News.

According to him, the United States has almost completely blocked drug smuggling channels from this region.

“We’ve cut off 97% of drug smuggling into the United States by water, and now we’re going to start hitting the cartels on land,” Trump said.

He was referring to a series of strikes on boats allegedly transporting drugs.

The head of the White House added that “the cartels are running Mexico, it’s very sad to see and we see what has happened to this country.”

Trump noted that cartels “kill 250-300 thousand people in the United States every year.”

As a reminder, after a successful operation in Venezuela on January 3, when the Americans captured the country’s dictator Nicolás Maduro, Trump threatened Mexico and its government.

At the time, the US president said that Mexico was allegedly “run by cartels” and that “something needs to be done”.

He argued that the country’s authorities were not doing enough to combat them, which had turned the country into a drug supply channel to the United States.

Back in early November last year, NBC News reported, citing current and former US officials, that the Donald Trump administration had begun planning a military operation in Mexico against drug cartels.

The preparations include the possible deployment of US military and intelligence personnel to Mexico to target drug labs and cartel leaders.