Photo: Presidencia

By KELIN DILLON

Shortly after the U.S. State Department officially designated six Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo (CSP) announced that two constitutional forms would be sent to the Congress of the Union to protect Mexico’s sovereignty, she revealed during her daily morning press conference on Thursday, Feb. 20.

U.S. President Donald Trump made his intentions to combat fentanyl trafficking from Mexico into the United States abundantly clear from his inauguration day, using his first hours in office to declare a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border and threatening 25 percent tariffs on Mexican goods if Mexico did not aid his mission at the border.

Following negotiations with Trump, Sheinbaum agreed to deploy 10,000 Mexican National Guard troops to the two nations’ shared border – a move that’s delayed the implementation of Trump’s steep tariffs until early March, for now.

“We share with the United States the fight against organized crime; we cooperate to prevent the trafficking of synthetic drugs, but always protecting national sovereignty,” said Sheinbaum on Thursday.

The Mexican federal executive’s statement comes after U.S. publication CNN released a report alleging that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is conducting drone surveillance across Mexico’s sovereign airspace and after Trump’s close confidant, Elon Musk, publicly stated that the cartels’ new terrorist designation makes them “eligible for drone attacks” under the U.S. Armed Forces Act.

“We do not negotiate our sovereignty; this cannot be an opportunity for the US to invade Mexico. Never interventionism and even less invasion,” continued CSP.

One reform, which corresponds to Article 39 Mexican Constitution, proposes modifying the wording to say that “The people of Mexico will under no circumstances accept interventions, interferences or any other act from abroad that is harmful to the integrity, independence and sovereignty of the nation, such as coups d’état, interference in elections or the violation of Mexican territory, whether by land, sea or airspace.”

The other proposed reform to Article 40 aims at combating arms trafficking and preventing foreign agents from operating in Mexico without the Mexican government’s consent, propositioning that anyone found guilty of said crimes “will be subject to the most severe penalty possible.” 

Meanwhile, in the United States, Trump announced he will invest $100 million to replicate Sheinbaum’s “Stop Fentanyl” campaign in the United States, calling it a “great idea.”