President Donald Trump has announced that the US is preparing to launch strikes against drug cartels operating in Mexico, at a time of significant escalation in the administration’s efforts to combat narcotics trafficking and related violence.
US President Donald Trump on Thursday said that land strikes against drug cartels were on the way following maritime attacks in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. “We’ve knocked out 97% of the drugs coming in by water, and we are going to start now hitting land with regard to the cartels. The cartels are running Mexico,” Trump told broadcaster Sean Hannity in an interview on Fox News that aired Thursday night.
Trump further linked the drug situation in Mexico to the increased number of homeless individuals in the US and also the surging number of orphans and children being enrolled in shelters, foster homes and orphanages.
“The cartels are running Mexico. It is very, very sad to watch and see what has happened to that country. They are killing 250,000 to 300,000 people in our country every single year. The drugs situation is very horrible. It has devastated families. Generally, you lose a child or a parent. I mean, parents are dying, too, with drugs.”
The president also confirmed that his administration has made progress in curbing drug inflows, particularly through maritime routes.
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“The border was a total mess for years. I did it the first time very quickly, and this time I did it even better because this was a bigger mess. This was a border like no other probably in the history of the world. There’s never been a border like that where anybody could just walk into your country,” Trump stated.
Trump's comments come after the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicholas Maduro last weekend, the culmination of months of mounting US military and economic pressure on the leftist leader.
As part of that campaign, United States has killed more than 100 people in strikes on alleged drug boats since September, and Trump has also said that the US forces conducted a land strike on a docking area for such vessels in Venezuela.
But strikes on cartels in Mexico would mark a significant US military escalation.
(With inputs from AFP)
