President Donald Trump signaled in his inauguration speech on Monday that he was preparing for confrontations in the Western Hemisphere by vowing to label Mexican cartels as “foreign terrorist organizations” and “take back” the Panama Canal.
Trump said in the speech that he would be deploying the military to the southern border with Mexico to “repel the disastrous invasion of our country” and that he would be signing an executive order to designate “the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.”
According to Fox News, the designations will apply to Mexican cartels and two gangs: MS-13 and Tren de Aragua. The action will designate the groups as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT).
The designations amount to severe sanctions that seize any assets the targets may have in the US and bar them from entering the country. The designations also open up anyone for criminal prosecution who provides “material support” to the groups, meaning anyone forced to pay protection money to the cartels or gangs could be potentially targeted.
Terror designations could be a first step toward military action against Mexican cartels, an idea favored by many Republicans and people close to Trump despite the obvious risks.
Mike Waltz, who became Trump’s national security advisor on Monday, sponsored a bill when he was in the House that would have to authorized the use of force against cartels and other groups “responsible for trafficking fentanyl or a fentanyl-related substance into the United States or carrying out other related activities that cause regional destabilization in the Western Hemisphere.”
Turning to the Panama Canal in his inaugural address, Trump said he wanted to retake it under the pretext that it’s currently being controlled by China, an accusation strongly denied by Panama’s government, which runs the waterway under its Panama Canal Authority.
The president also accused Panama of violating the treaty under which the US handed over control of the canal in 1999. “The purpose of our deal and the spirit of our treaty has been totally violated. American ships are being severely overcharged and not treated fairly in any way, shape, or form. And that includes the United States Navy,” Trump said.
“And above all, China is operating the Panama Canal. And we didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back,” he added.
Trump also said in the address that he aims to be a “peacemaker” and pointed to his involvement in clinching the Gaza ceasefire deal. “My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier. That’s what I want to be: a peacemaker and a unifier,” he said. “I’m pleased to say that as of yesterday, one day before I assumed office, the hostages in the Middle East are coming back home to their families.”
