(The Center Square) – President Donald Trump says he will be expanding the war on drugs in Latin America, striking targets south of the border.
During an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Trump made the announcement, with plans to target Mexican drug cartels.
“We are going to start now hitting land, with regard to the cartels. The cartels are running Mexico,” the president told Hannity. “It’s very, very sad to watch and see what’s happened to that country, but the cartels are running and they’re killing 300,000 people in our country every single year.”
Trump touted his war on drugs, saying his administration has “knocked out 97% of the drugs coming in by water.”
The Trump administration has been busy carrying out over two dozen strikes on suspected narco-terrorists operating marine vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, leading up to last weekend’s massive air strikes on Venezuela and the capture of deposed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Unlike Maduro, the president has been more lenient with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, acknowledging that she is a good person, opting instead to criticize her leadership, claiming that Sheinbaum has been intimidated by the cartels.
Mexico has been accused of being a major passageway for the trafficking of the deadly drug fentanyl, among others.
Trump's comments come on the heels of his threats to strike Colombia, only to appear to be backtracking after talking with Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
Following a call between the two leaders Wednesday evening, the pair appears to have had a productive conversation leading to a White House meeting in the “near future.”
“It was a Great Honor to speak with the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who called to explain the situation of drugs and other disagreements that we have had,” the president posted to his Truth Social account. “I appreciated his call and tone.”
Prior to the call, tensions between the two leaders appeared high, with Trump threatening military action as of Sunday evening.
Onboard Air Force One during his return to Washington, the president was asked if the U.S. could target Colombia next on the heels of Saturday’s strike in Venezuela and the capture of Maduro.
Trump responded: “It sounds good to me.”
The president accused Petro of selling drugs to the U.S.
"Colombia is very sick, too, run by a sick man, who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States, and he's not going to be doing it very long," Trump told reporters.
Petro appears to be trying to reassure the U.S. of his country’s commitment to fighting drug trafficking ahead of the proposed meeting.
“Dear U.S. Representative, Colombia has put 300,000 killed in the fight against drug trafficking, and in my government we have already seized 2,800 tons of cocaine and in the world’s seizure operations, Colombian intelligence has participated in 63% of them,” Petro posted to X on Thursday morning. “We have destroyed 13,000 cocaine laboratories in just three years. Remember it: my government is the one that has seized the most cocaine in the entire history of that substance in the world.”
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