Mexico: We Will Not Allow US Military Operations Against Cartels

Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador warned Friday he would not allow the United States to conduct cross-border armed operations, after Donald Trump vowed to designate Mexican drug cartels as terrorist groups.

The U.S. president has been talking tough on the powerful drug cartels since one was allegedly responsible for the massacre of nine women and children from a U.S.-Mexican Mormon community in northern Mexico on November 4.

Trump tweeted after the killings that the U.S. was ready to help Mexico “wage war on the drug cartels,” and he followed up this week by vowing to add Mexican cartels to the U.S. blacklist of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

That insulted national pride in Mexico, which resents a long history of armed interventions by its giant northern neighbor, and where Trump’s comments have been taken as a threat of armed cross-border operations.

“Armed foreigners cannot intervene in our territory. We will not allow that,” Lopez Obrador said.

Tyler Robinson judge unseals ATF report in assassination of Charlie Kirk

Frat house turns into crime scene after member allegedly sexually assaults woman, police say

Didn’t file your taxes on time? Here’s what a tax expert says you should do next

Republicans bet higher tax refunds will boost midterm chances as blue states resist relief

S&P 500 Smashed Another Record Wednesday, Signaling the Markets Believe Trump That the Iran Conflict Is Ending

Democrats vow to block next Trump Supreme Court pick amid Alito speculation

Democratic Rep. Calls to ‘Eliminate the President of the United States from the Office Right Now’

Homeland Security official’s killing leaves agency ‘devastated’ as vetting breakdown exposed

Swalwell’s mounting sexual misconduct allegations threaten career beyond politics, experts warn

Trump Admin Moves to Wipe Out the Last Remaining Convictions from January 6, Specifically Regarding Proud Boys and Oath Keepers

Virginia redistricting referendum tightens into a dead heat as early voting surges

2 detained after shooting in New York leaves 15-year-old killed, two others wounded: police

Guards at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ beat, pepper-sprayed detainees, lawyer says

‘We’re taxing the rich’: NYC Mayor Mamdani touts new $500M-a-year tax on luxury second homes

Navy reservist accused of murdering wife and hiding her body in freezer arrested after international manhunt

He was quick to add that he considered any such operations unlikely, saying there was “great cooperation” between the neighbors and that Trump had always treated him “respectfully.”

“In the unlikely case that a decision is taken that we consider affects our sovereignty, then we will act within the framework of international law, but I see it as unlikely,” said the leftist leader, who took office one year ago.

U.S. Attorney General William Barr will visit Mexico City next week for talks, said Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard.

Lopez Obrador, for his part, is due to meet Monday with family members of the slain Mormons.

Mexico deployed its army to fight drug trafficking in 2006, but experts blame the so-called “drug wars” for a spiral of violence, as fragmented cartels fight each other and the military.

The country has registered more than 250,000 murders since deploying the army into the streets, including an all-time high of 33,743 last year — a record that looks set to be broken again this year.

Drone strikes?