Argentina declares Jalisco New Generation Cartel a ‘terrorist’ group

Argentina has labelled a Mexico-based criminal organisation, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), as a “terrorist organisation”, echoing similar designations made in the United States under President Donald Trump.

The announcement was issued from the office of Argentinian President Javier Milei, a prominent right-wing figure in Latin America who has forged close relations with his US counterpart.

Thursday’s decision, the statement said, “is based on official reports that confirm transnational illicit activities, as well as links to other terrorist organisations”.

The office also signalled that the label was meant to bolster partnerships with countries like the US.

“It strengthens international cooperation in matters of security and justice, in close coordination with those countries that have already designated the Jalisco cartel a terrorist organisation,” the statement reads.

So far, only the US and Canada have done so. Argentina is thought to be the first Latin American country to embrace such a label.

The Jalisco New Generation Cartel was among an inaugural group of eight criminal networks the Trump administration labelled “foreign terrorist organisations” in February 2025, within weeks of the US president’s return to office. Canada made similar designations that same month.

The push to re-categorise criminal groups as “terrorist” organisations comes as part of a larger shift in security policy across the Western Hemisphere, helmed in large part by Trump’s hardline policies.

In recent decades, “terrorist” was a label primarily applied to groups that used violence as a political tool to destabilise governments or shape public opinion. The US used the term in the early 2000s, after the attacks on September 11, 2001, for groups like al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS).

But the Trump administration has expanded how the term is used, in part to justify lethal military actions against Latin American criminal groups.

So far, Trump has authorised 47 air strikes on vessels navigating in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, killing approximately 163 people.

He also attacked a Venezuelan port in late December and launched another military operation in the country on January 3, culminating in the abduction and imprisonment of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

In each case, the military actions were conducted on the premise of disrupting transnational drug-smuggling operations. Legal experts, however, have condemned the operations as extrajudicial killings and violations of local sovereignty.

Trump, however, has pushed Latin American leaders to take more aggressive actions against criminal networks, in line with his own policies towards cartels.

In early March, he hosted a meeting in South Florida for right-wing leaders in the region, which he dubbed the “Shield of the Americas” summit.

During his speech, Trump encouraged his audience to sideline law enforcement in favour of military action against cartels, which he compared to a “cancer”.

“ The only way to defeat these enemies is by unleashing the power of our military,” Trump said at the time. “You have to use your military.”

Milei was present at that summit and has mirrored Trump’s policies in the past. Like Trump, for instance, Milei recently withdrew his country from the World Health Organization.

For his part, Trump has supported Milei through efforts to increase the import of Argentinian beef into the US. He has also offered Argentina a $20bn currency swap, a move designed to boost the value of the local peso.

That economic manoeuvre, however, came within weeks of Argentina’s midterm election, and Trump tied the prospect of continued economic support for Argentina to the race’s outcome.

The Jalisco New Generation Cartel is one of the most prominent criminal organisations in Mexico, and law enforcement officials estimate it has established connections in other countries, including Guatemala, Colombia and the US.

Born from divisions within the Milenio Cartel in 2010, the group was founded by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho”, who was killed recently on February 22 in a Mexican military operation.

In Thursday’s statement, Milei’s office noted that the “terrorist” designation would place the cartel in the same category as Hamas and Iran’s Quds Force.