Will the US attack cartels in Mexico? Trump: I wouldn't mind

US President Donald Trump has said he would not mind strikes against drug cartels inside Mexico to stem the flow of drugs. He also stated that he “must deal with” Venezuela, but announced that he intended to talk to the country's leader, Nicolas Maduro.

Trump responded this way to a question about whether he was considering military strikes against drug cartels in Mexico.

– I wouldn't mind. (We will do) whatever we have to to stop drugs, he said, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office during a meeting with FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

When asked if he would do so only with the consent of Mexican authorities, Trump declined to answer.

– I'm talking to Mexico and they know where I stand. They are killing our citizens (…). It's like war. Would I do it? With pride, Trump said. “Let me put it this way: I'm not happy with Mexico,” he added.

The US president also expressed readiness to strike cocaine-producing “factories” inside Colombia.

Trump also referred to a possible intervention against Venezuela. When asked whether he ruled out sending ground troops to this country, the president replied that he did not rule out anything.

“We have to deal with it,” Trump said, accusing Venezuela of sending criminals from prison to the US. He repeated earlier announcements that he might talk to the Venezuelan leader, although he did not answer the question of what Maduro could do to avert the threat of a US attack.

– He was not good for the United States. So we'll see what happens. I will talk to him at some point, he said.

The strike group of America's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, arrived in the Caribbean Sea on Monday, joining other ships and American forces massed in the region. On Sunday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that on November 24 he would recognize the Venezuelan cartel Cartel de los Soles (Cartel of the Suns) – headed by Maduro himself – as a terrorist organization. Trump said on Sunday that this would allow the US to launch a military strike in Venezuela. On Thursday, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth announced the launch of Operation Southern Spear, the goal of which – as he declared – is to “remove narco-terrorists from the (Western) hemisphere and protect the homeland from the drugs that are killing our people.”

From Washington Oskar Górzyński (PAP)

osk/ kar/