Claudia Sheinbaum, the president of Mexico, has refuted reports that her country is working with the US on a “major new initiative” to combat drug cartels.
Sheinbaum addressed the initiative, dubbed “Project Portero,” in her Tuesday morning news conference, which was marketed in the US as a “strengthen collaboration between the United States and Mexico.”
The initiative was only days before the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) made it public.
“I need to clarify something,” I ask. According to Sheinbaum, the DEA announced yesterday that a deal has been reached with the Mexican government regarding a Portero operation.
There isn’t anything in place with the DEA. Based on what we don’t know, the DEA makes this statement. None of the security organizations [has] reached an agreement with the DEA, and we have not done so.
Sheinbaum emphasized that Mexico would only be able to make such an announcement through her administration, not individual government bodies.
She added that joint announcements must be made in accordance with established guidelines set forth by the DEA.
Project Portero is a part of a wider campaign by US President Donald Trump to stop cross-border drug trafficking and aggressively prosecute cartels and criminal networks that profit from this trade.
The DEA described Project Portero as its “flagship operation” in a statement released on Monday, aiming to stop the flow of illegal drugs along the border.
It referred to its collaboration with Mexico as “a multi-week training and collaboration program” that would bring Mexican investigators and US law enforcement personnel together at a southwest border intelligence facility.
According to the statement, they were trying to “identify joint targets” for the two nations.
DEA Administrator Terrance Cole said in the statement that “Project Portero and this new training program demonstrate how we will fight — by planning and working side by side with our Mexican partners.”
“This is a brave first step in a brand-new era of cross-border enforcement,” he said.
Sheinbaum continued, “No such bilateral action was planned,” despite her rumor that the DEA might be referring to a small training session involving four Mexican police officers.
She explained that the Secretariat of Citizen Security only has a group of police officers who were attending a workshop in Texas.
She did point out that her government was actively working with the Trump administration to ratify a border security treaty based on respectful cooperation and recognition of sovereignty.
Trump has repeatedly pressed the Sheinbaum government to stop the flow of immigrants and drugs across their shared borders since taking office for a second term in January.
That includes paying imports a tax that is threatened by tariffs. Trump made a statement in late July that he would continue imposing tariffs on Mexican goods for 90 days.
He had previously threatened to raise the tariff rate because fentanyl was still being marketed in the US.
In a letter to Sheinbaum earlier that month, Trump wrote that “Mexico still has not stopped the Cartels who are trying to turn the entire country into a narcotics-trafficking playground.”
Mexico still pays a 25-percent tax on all products that do not fall under the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement (USMCA), which Trump refers to as a “fentanyl tariff.”
Trump has still shown his affection for Sheinbaum, and since taking office in October of this year, he has largely avoided confrontations with Americans.
Sheinbaum’s government and Trump’s recently collaborated to bring 26 well-known drug-trafficking suspects to the US for prosecution.
Prior to Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on imports from her country, she reached a similar agreement in February, sending 29 alleged cartel leaders from Mexican prisons to the US. The largest prisoner transfer in recent memory from Mexico to the US.
Sheinbaum’s approach to Trump’s aggressive foreign policy platform has also drawn criticism.
For instance, the US State Department issued travel warnings for 30 of Mexico’s 32 states earlier this month, warning Americans of “terrorist” activities there.
Trump reportedly signed an order authorizing military action to combat them, as well as labeling several Latin American criminal organizations as “foreign terrorist organizations.”
Critics worry that the government’s desire for order could lead to a military invasion of Mexico. However, Sheinbaum has repeatedly dismissed those fears, saying, “Mexico will not be invaded.”
Source: Aljazeera
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