David Brooks y Jim Cason
Correspondents
La Jornada Newspaper
Sunday, March 8, 2026, p. 5
New York and Washington., Donald Trump reiterated that Mexico represents a national security threat to the United States, since it is controlled by drug cartels, and is “the epicenter” of criminal violence in the Western Hemisphere, warning that although he “very much likes” the “beautiful” Mexican president, his government cannot tolerate this situation in the neighboring country.
In his speech at the inauguration of a new entity named the Shield of the Americas in Miami, Trump said that the time has come to stop transnational crime in the hemisphere, and stressed that “the epicenter of cartel violence is Mexico.” He charged that “Mexican cartels are fueling and orchestrating much of the bloodshed and chaos in this hemisphere, and the United States government will do whatever is necessary to defend our national security and protect the safety of the American people.”
“Look, everything comes through Mexico,” he said in reference to drugs and once again – as he has repeated since he arrived at the White House as part of his pressure tactic that he has used against the Mexican government – he praised President Claudia Sheinbaum, but stressed that Mexico is under the control of the cartels. “And I really like the President. She is a very good person. She has a beautiful voice, she is a beautiful woman. But a beautiful voice, President, President, President, I told her, let me eradicate the protests,” in apparent reference to the wave of violence after the capture of El Mencho.
He continued about the Mexican cartels: “we have to eradicate them, we have to beat them like hell, because they are getting worse and worse. They are taking over that country. The cartels control Mexico. We can’t have that. Too close to us… But everything comes through Mexico, for the most part.”
The government of Mexico – along with that of Brazil and Colombia, among others – was not present at this “summit” of only 12 American leaders.
Trump’s comments about Mexico did not mark any change in the US government’s position, and are part of a strategy of constant criticism mixed with praise and respectful personal treatment and even agreements that have characterized the president’s handling of the bilateral relationship since he arrived at the White House.
However, each threat is inevitably more ominous at a juncture where Trump’s threatening rhetoric has also been translated into action, including bombings of alleged narcolanchasthe kidnapping of a head of state in Venezuela, the assassination of another in Iran and the direct threat of an offensive to achieve regime change in Cuba.
