Trump Gives Up Classing Mexican Cartels As “Terrorists”

Donald Trump announced on Friday that he was “temporarily” renouncing on naming the Mexican drug cartels as a “terrorist organization” at the request of Mexico’s Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

“All the necessary work has been done to classify Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations. From a legal point of view, we are ready to do it, “the US president wrote on Twitter.

“However, at the request of a man whom I appreciate and respect, and who has worked so well with us, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, we will temporarily give up this designation and reinforce our joint efforts to fight effectively against them. dangerous organizations that keep getting bigger! “, he added.

A decision welcomed Friday on Twitter by Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard. “Cooperation has won and opens the way for good results,” he wrote.

Donald Trump had raised the possibility of classifying the Mexican cartels as a “terrorist organization” in a telephone interview broadcast on November 26 on the website of conservative journalist Bill O’Reilly.

“The designations are not that easy, there is a whole process and we are in the middle of this process,” he explained.

Three women and six children from an American Mormon community in northern Mexico were massacred at the beginning of November in an attack attributed to cartels, very influential in the border region.

Washington had then urged Mexico to “declare war” on these cartels, and Donald Trump had said that the United States was ready to help its southern neighbour.

A proposal rejected by Mexico, whose president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had stated on November 29 that he would refuse any US military operation in his country.

“We will not allow armed people to operate in our territory,” he said while emphasizing his “very good relationship” with Donald Trump.