© Reuters/Presidency of Mexico
US AG William Barr meets with Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexico City .
With the Trump administration considering declaring Mexican drug cartels terrorist organizations,
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has insisted that he does not want US military intervention against them.
Mexico's drug cartels make billions of dollars per year on illegal drug
sales in the US, and have been locked into a bloody conflict with the Mexican government for over a decade. The Mexican Drug War has claimed tens of thousands of lives since 2007, and the recent mass murder of nine Americans in an apparent ambush near the US border prompted
President Donald Trump to offer Mexico help to wipe the cartels "off the face of the earth."
Obrador rejected Trump's offer, but the American president pressed ahead with
plans to designate the cartels "foreign terrorist organizations." Though this designation is usually applied to hit foreign terror groups with sanctions, many observers feared it would bring the US one step closer to putting troops on Mexican soil.
Against this background, Obrador met with US Attorney General William Barr in Mexico City on Thursday.
The Mexican leader hailed the meeting as productive, and told reporters on Friday that his government has "no confrontation" with the Trump administration.
Obrador pledged to cooperate with Washington on drugs, arms, and migration issues, but added that Mexico's constitution states that
"foreigners cannot interlude in politics in our country. We can't have foreign forces on our territory for military ends," he said.
Comment: The drug cartels have power through violence and political manipulation. Trump threatens a seedy and dangerous arrangement with ties to the CIA, a key factor in keeping this notorious order alive and well-protected.
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