US pressing Mexico to allow US forces to fight cartels

The United States is intensifying pressure on Mexico to allow U.S. military forces to conduct joint operations to dismantle fentanyl labs inside the country, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing U.S. officials.

U.S. officials want American forces, either Special Operation troops or CIA officers, to accompany Mexican soldiers on raids on suspected fentanyl labs, the report said, citing multiple unnamed officials.

U.S. President Donald Trump told Fox News last week that cartels were running Mexico and suggested the U.S. could strike land targets to combat them, in one of a series of threats to deploy U.S. military force against drug cartels.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said this week that she ruled out a U.S. military intervention to combat drug cartels following a “good conversation” with Trump on security and drug trafficking.

The U.S. request to Mexico to use U.S. forces was renewed after Washington’s forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a raid on January 3, the New York Times report said.

Sheinbaum has previously declined offers of military action from Trump.

Read more via Reuters/NYT