Republican presidential candidates pledge to target drug traffickers in Mexico

Several Republican presidential candidates for the 2024 United States elections have pledged that if elected, they would resort to the military to launch strikes against drug cartels in Mexico, which pose an increasing threat and raise concerns on both sides of the border.

During the first debate among Republican candidates on Wednesday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is second in the polls with a significant lead over former President Donald Trump, unequivocally endorsed launching unilateral attacks across the border.

Responding to a question about sending US special forces to dismantle drug manufacturing sites in Mexico if elected, DeSantis stated, "I will do that from day one."

Trump, who did not participate in the debate with other candidates, reportedly instructed his advisors to prepare military "combat plans" against Mexican drug traffickers in the event of his re-election, according to Rolling Stone magazine.

Three other candidates – Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley, and Tim Scott – also expressed their support for such strikes.

In March, Haley, the only female Republican candidate and former US ambassador to the United Nations, suggested that the United States should treat Mexican smugglers like members of the Islamic State group.

International political experts view these calls seriously, as they pose a significant threat to the already delicate relations between Washington and its southern neighbor.

Arturo Sarukhan, Mexico's former ambassador to the United States and a member of the Brookings Institution in Washington, told AFP, "This is pure madness."

However, this idea is not new; during his presidency, Donald Trump wanted to target Mexican drug manufacturing sites with missiles, but his advisors dissuaded him from doing so, according to his former defense secretary Mark Esper's book released in 2022.

Since then, the border between Mexico and the United States has seen a sharp increase in fentanyl smuggling, a synthetic drug responsible for the deaths of 110,000 people in the United States last year.

Sarukhan also pointed out that Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has reduced cooperation with US authorities regarding drug trafficking and illegal immigration.

As a result, Republicans are calling for airstrikes or nighttime raids against these cartels, similar to the tactics used against jihadist groups in Iraq, Syria, or Somalia, where diplomatic consequences are limited.

In January, Republicans in Congress proposed granting the president exceptional military powers that would allow him to issue orders for US forces to unilaterally act against Mexican drug smugglers.

In March, the party introduced legislation aimed at designating nine cartels as "foreign terrorist organizations," enhancing the president's ability to use the military against them, similar to the approach taken against jihadist groups.



AFP