Washington includes the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel among those considered terrorist organizations.
The United States designated six Mexican drug trafficking cartels as terrorist groups, including the Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartels (CJNG), in addition to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and the Salvadoran gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). This was ordered on Wednesday (02/19/2025) by the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, in a document published in the Federal Register that will come into force on Thursday.
In addition to the Sinaloa Cartel and the CJNG, the Mexican cartels of the Northeast, the Gulf, the Nueva Familia Michoacana, and the United Cartels were also included in the list of terrorist groups.
“I designate the aforementioned organizations and their respective aliases as foreign terrorist organizations,” said Rubio, the head of US diplomacy.
These groups represent, according to the document, a risk to the national security, foreign policy, and economic interests of the United States.
Some analysts believe that the terrorism designations could make it possible for asylum seekers who pay cartels to be smuggled to be prosecuted in, or expelled from, the United States.
Others interpret that the designations could make it easier for migrants to obtain asylum in the United States by claiming that they were fleeing terrorism.
Rubio’s decision complies with the executive order signed by US President Donald Trump on the first day of his term when he ordered the declaration of drug trafficking cartels as terrorist groups, something he had already announced in December.
Mexico has opposed in recent years the United States taking that step for fear that it would open the door to US intervention in Mexican territory.
US media reported this week that the CIA is using drones to conduct surveillance in Mexico, in covert operations that had not been revealed until now. Asked about the issue, Trump said Tuesday that Mexico “is largely governed by the cartels.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum declared on February 19th, that US drone flights over Mexican territory were part of “a collaboration and cooperation that has been going on for many years with the United States and that it is nothing new.”
She added that there was nothing illegal about it. “Since it is at the request of the Mexican government,” the leftist leader said.
Source: Deutsche Welle
