Mexico

Hegseth Warned of Military Action if Mexico Fails to Meet Trump’s Border Demands

MEXICO CITY—It was the first call U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth held with Mexico’s top military officials, and it wasn’t going well.

Hegseth told the officials that if Mexico didn’t deal with the collusion between the country’s government and drug cartels, the U.S. military was prepared to take unilateral action, according to people briefed on the Jan. 31 call. Mexico’s top brass who were on that call were shocked and angered, feeling he was suggesting U.S. military action inside Mexico, these people said. The Defense Department declined to comment.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCamp Of The Saints, Mexico, USA

Mexico extradites 29 drug suspects to U.S. as Trump threatens sanctions

MEXICO CITY — Mexico extradited 29 alleged drug traffickers to the United States on Thursday, including Rafael Caro Quintero, a prized target long sought in the killing of a U.S. narcotics agent, and two leaders of the hyper-violent Zetas cartel, in a dramatic gesture apparently aimed at heading off crushing economic sanctions, according to U.S. officials.

President Donald Trump has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on Mexico on Tuesday for what he calls its failure to stop drugs — including fentanyl — from crossing the border. A high-level Mexican delegation met Thursday with senior Trump administration officials to hammer out a deal to avoid the economic penalties.

“Twenty-nine, that’s huge! What they’ve done is literally cleaned out the cupboard,” said John Feeley, a former U.S. diplomat who served as deputy chief of mission in Mexico from 2009 to 2012. Normally, he said, extraditions of major capos were handled one by one, often involving long negotiations. But Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum was “pulling out all the stops” to avoid the tariffs, he said.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inMexican drug cartels, Mexico, USA

Texas rancher killed by suspected cartel IED on Mexican border as authorities warn of ‘growing threat’

A Texas border rancher was killed near the border by a suspected cartel IED earlier this month, the Texas Department of Agriculture told The Post Tuesday — as officials issued an urgent safety warning for the Rio Grande Valley.

Rancher Antonio Céspedes Saldierna, 74, who worked on both sides of the border, along with Horacio Lopez Peña, were killed in the blast in Tamaulipas, Mexico, just south of Brownsville, Texas. Lopez’s wife, Ninfa Griselda Ortega, was hospitalized with injuries.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inMexican drug cartels, Mexico, Mexico - Failed State, USA

Why the Sinaloa Cartel May Never Be the Same Again

CULIACÁN, Mexico—Even Jesús Malverde, the patron saint of drug traffickers, has fallen victim to the vicious turf war ripping apart Mexico’s biggest producer and smuggler of fentanyl.

Since the Sinaloa cartel’s two main factions turned on each other five months ago, a chill has descended on this city of gated communities, luxury malls and illicit drug labs. Few pilgrims now dare to venture out to the shrine of the mustachioed Malverde, a legendary early 20th century bandit credited with miraculous powers. On a recent day, not a single person had spent the $1 it costs to buy a candle to place before his image in thanks for a successful drug run across the border to the U.S.

“Nobody comes anymore,” said Luz María González, minding a small stand full of offerings, incense and statues of the folk saint.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inMexican drug cartels, Mexico, USA

Under Trump, CIA plots bigger role in drug cartel fight

The Central Intelligence Agency is poised to take a larger, more aggressive role under President Donald Trump in the battle against Mexican-based drug cartels, devising and evaluating plans to share more intelligence with regional governments, train local counternarcotics units and possibly conduct other covert actions, according to people familiar with the matter.

The expanded focus on cartels, which smuggle fentanyl and other narcotics into the United States, represents a new and potentially risky priority for the spy agency, which in recent years has made espionage against China, counterterrorism operations in the Middle East and Africa, and support for Ukraine after Russia’s 2022 invasion its main concerns.

WAPO is worried this will upset the Cartels.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCIA, Mexican drug cartels, Mexico, USA

Trump‘s State Department to Designate Specific Cartels as Foreign Terrorist Groups

The Trump administration is preparing to designate a series of Mexican drug cartels and two from Central and South America as foreign terrorist organizations. The move comes as Mexico continues to experience unprecedented levels of violence, including the widespread use of landmines and improvised explosive devices, despite empty government claims that crime has decreased and impunity has ended.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inMexican drug cartels, Mexico, USA

Mexican drug cartels plan attacks on Border Patrol agents with kamikaze drones and other explosives to fight US crackdown

Mexican drug cartels are ordering their members to attack US Border Patrol agents with kamikaze drones and other explosives in a desperate bid to thwart the crackdown at the border, according to an internal memo obtained by The Post.

The alert, which cites social media posts and other sources, cautions federal agents “to remain cognizant of their surroundings at all times” in the face of the new threat.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inMexican drug cartels, Mexico, Mexico - Failed State, USA

Canada in Perilous Position After Trump Cuts Tariff Deal With Mexico

Some Canadian politicians previously suggested tossing Mexico from a three-nation trade agreement with the United States.

Canada found itself in a precarious position on Monday morning after Mexico cut a deal with President Trump to postpone tariffs in exchange for a major deployment of forces along the border between the two countries.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada spoke to President Trump on Monday morning but no such compromise was reached between the two. A senior Canadian government official with knowledge of the call said the situation was still in flux ahead of a second phone call between the two leaders scheduled for 3 p.m. Eastern, but did not express optimism that a compromise could be reached.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, Mexico, USA

Mexican president announces one-month ‘pause’ on Trump’s US tariffs after agreeing to send 10,000 troops to border to stem fentanyl smuggling

The Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has said the US and Mexico have agreed to “pause” tariffs threatened by Donald Trump for one month after the two leaders held “a good conversation”.

Mexico had agreed to send 10,000 members of its national guard “to prevent drug trafficking from Mexico to the US, in particular of fentanyl”. In return, the US had agreed to work to prevent high-powered weapons crossing the border into Mexico. The tariffs would be paused for one month as a result, Sheinbaum added.

h/t XC

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inMexico, USA

Trump Aides Hunt for 11th-Hour Deal to Dial Back Canada-Mexico Tariffs

President Trump’s advisers are considering several offramps to avoid enacting the universal tariffs on Mexico and Canada that he had pledged, according to people familiar with the matter, even as he reiterated Thursday that the tariffs are coming.

The situation is fluid and Trump still may go through with his vow to slap 25%, across-the-board levies on imports from America’s two largest trading partners. The president has consistently said he would do so by Saturday.

But amid ongoing negotiations with Canada and Mexico, the administration appears undecided on whether to impose tariffs on all imports from those countries, the people familiar with the matter said, adding that administration officials are preparing to opt for more targeted measures instead.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, Mexico, USA

What would happen if the US military went after cartels on Mexican soil?

Evan Hafer, a popular veteran and founder of Black Rifle Coffee, was on Joe Rogan’s podcast after the November election. As with any Maga acolyte, the US-Mexico border figured prominently in his mind.

“If we declare war on the cartel, these dudes are not going to understand what the fuck is going on. They are in for a world of ultra-violence,” said Hafer, who served in the Green Berets and the CIA.

“JD [Vance] or Trump had said something with the new guy from Ice, like: ‘We’re going to mobilize tier one units against the cartel.’”

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inMexican drug cartels, Mexico, Mexico - Failed State, USA

Mexican drug cartels smuggling migrants open fire on US Border Patrol agents

American Border Patrol agents stationed at the Mexican border were fired upon by a suspected drug cartel in an effort to smuggle illegal migrants into Texas.

The gunfight broke out on Monday near the disputed territory of Fronton, Texas, exactly one week after President Donald Trump returned to office and began his sweeping deportation crackdown.

While the cartel suspected of being responsible for the violence has been shooting across the border for years, NewsNation reports that the crisis in the region has ‘escalated in unprecedented ways since President Trump was elected.’

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCamp Of The Saints, Mexican drug cartels, Mexico, Mexico - Failed State, USA

Trump can’t end Mexico’s cartel war

Drug networks are too complex

Most residents in the town of Jerécuaro in Central Mexico were asleep when the car bomb exploded in the plaza at 5.10 am on 24 October, blowing out the windows of stores and scattering debris. But when a second car bomb went off over an hour later in the city of Acámbaro, 30 kilometres away, many residents were heading to work and school. The explosive device blew up outside a police station and injured three officers. Mexico’s recently sworn-in security minister, Omar García Harfuch, blamed the car bombs on the drug cartels fighting a turf war.

Car bombs are one of the many terrifying weapons in the arsenal of Mexico’s cartels as they battle over territory, not only to traffic and sell drugs, but to steal oil from pipelines, smuggle migrants over the US border, and extort businesses, among other crimes. They also wield weaponised drones that drop makeshift bombs unleashing shrapnel and nails. They lay landmines that kill soldiers in their Humvees as well as farmers. And they build fighting vehicles known as “monsters” that look like they are out of Mad Max, with walls of bullet-proof steel and battering rams.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inMexican drug cartels, Mexico, Mexico - Failed State, President Trump, USA