In an interview aired Tuesday, President Trump revealed that he intends to designate Mexico’s drug cartels as terrorist groups for their role in trafficking narcotics and people. He said he has been working on designation for the past 90 days.
The designation would make it illegal for people to support members of the organization, and its members can be deported. It also requires banks to block their money and alert the Treasury Department.
This would give the Trump Administration more ability to go after the finances of cartels, and potentially also use cartel affiliation as another pretext for deporting people to Mexico.
Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said they intend to seek a high-level meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to discuss the matter, calling it a “very important issue for the bilateral agenda.”
MAGA baby. Lets not finish the cartels of in one fell swoop with decisive legalization of Drugs, we would miss the opportunity to look tough for our brainless Demos. Drug war failed, War on Terror produced the opposite effect, so just combine the two and they cancel out into American’s Winning!
Public: “You can’t just invade Mexico!”
Marines: “Halls of Montezuma, baby.”
Marine NCOs wear red stripes down the sides of their dress blue uniform trousers. They’re called “blood stripes” and they commemorate the 90% casualty rate among Marine NCOs at Chapultepec (“the Halls of Montezuma”) just so Polk could steal some land.
Sending the Corps into Mexico would make Iraq look like the cake walk it was supposedly going to be.
on a more mundane and practical bilateral level:
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/mexico-pushes-back-against-trump-plan-label-cartels-terror-groups
Now, Trump is weighing a terrorist designation for the cartels, which could open the door for American cross-border attacks on cartel infrastructure and cartel personnel.
…..According to the Washington Post, under US law, any violent foreign group or individual who “threatens American security” can be designated a terror group and be subjected to sanctions that, in this case, could seriously disrupt commerce between American and Mexican companies.
It’s also a huge problem for the banks, as anybody who remembers the
$900 million money laundering scandal involving UK-based HSBC back in
2012……
Does this mean that dope users here at home will be prosecuted for funding terrorist organizations? I’m all for that.
No it just means more excuses for alphabet agencies the violate their oaths to the Constitution in the name of protecting fools
No the law against funding terrorists is already on the books and the DEA makes drug busts all the time, so once the cartels are classified as terrorist organizations then any federal prosecutor can indict Wall St cokeheads etc for funding terrorism.
And while I normally oppose the death penalty, I could be talked into supporting it for cops and prosecutors who hassle dope users.
So when does Pfizer get designated as a terrorist organization then?
The 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) has declared wedding parties and piñon nut farmers as terrorists, why not Mexican peasants just going about their business?
decrease your drug addictions, USA……. that might be more helpful than more violence, police/security forces, and sanctions
Legalization of recreational drugs would instantly make the cartels worthless.
I think they are into everything, not just drugs. But I certainly agree with legalization and it wouldn’t help the cartels like the war on drugs so obviously does.
This is where we have to stop Elizabeth Warren closing down all the Payday loan places. Before we freed those market and then all these loans were going to the black market and it was a huge part of the underground dealings. Add gambling and prostitution then maybe we could end the cartels. Coyote business may also slow down if we stop aiding destroying South American countries.
This might be the most important bit of news coming out of Washington in a while, of course it’s widely ignored. This essentially ‘authorizes’ the President to attack terrorists inside Mexico w/o permission from the Mexican Government. I’m sure JSOC, CIA and DEA already operate in Mexico gathering intelligence, now they can start providing targeting for the Predators, blowing up terrorists and their families and maybe some of those vicious outdoor weddings we like to lay waste to in Afghanistan. Civilian Government in Mexico is clinging to the edge of the cliff with one hand, we destabilize it completely we will see a refugee crisis nobody has imagined.
“I’m sure JSOC, CIA and DEA already operate in Mexico gathering intelligence, now they can start providing targeting for the Predators”
Yep.
The problem with that is that unlike, say, the Islamic State, the cartels have extensive and longstanding networks in the US itself, including enforcers. Right now those enforcers kneecap or cut the throats of dealers who steal from or compete with the cartels. Next week, if ordered to do so, they can easily be parking vans full of ammonium nitrate and nails in front of elementary schools.
Whilst I admit isn’t the best solution (the best one is ending drug prohibition and the drug war), this is a far more convincing case for military action to any far flung corner in the Middle East. Illegal immigration and the drug cartels have been responsible for the deaths of more Americans in one year than have been killed in the War on Terror.