Senior U.S. military officials have already begun drafting plans for how to carry out extraterritorial actions.

On Friday, The New York Times reported that U.S. President Donald Trump had signed a secret order directing the Pentagon to use military force against drug cartels in Latin America.

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This move would be the most aggressive measure taken by the Trump administration against these organizations, which Washington has classified as terrorist groups since January.

The presidential order would provide a legal basis for U.S. armed forces to conduct direct and unilateral military operations on foreign soil against the cartels. According to the NYT’s sources, senior U.S. military officials have already begun drafting plans for how to carry out such actions.

The matter raises serious legal questions that the government is reportedly evaluating, the newspaper said — including whether the killing of civilians or suspected criminals who do not pose an imminent threat, particularly in operations not authorized by Congress, would be considered “assassination.”

The decision to target these groups would fall within Trump’s broader campaign against fentanyl trafficking, a synthetic opioid that, according to Washington, is primarily produced by Mexican cartels using Chinese chemical components and trafficked into the United States, which is currently facing a severe crisis of overdose deaths from the substance.

In February, Trump designated the Aragua Train, the Salvadoran gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), and the six main Mexican cartels — the Sinaloa Cartel, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), the Northeast Cartel, the Gulf Cartel, the United Cartels, and the New Mexican Family — as terrorist organizations.

Currently, the U.S. government has intensified covert drone flights over Mexico to track fentanyl labs, a program that began under the previous administration of Joe Biden. However, those operations are prohibited from using lethal force, The New York Times noted.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has expressed willingness to cooperate with the United States on security matters but insists on respecting her country’s territorial sovereignty.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE – NYT

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