US General affirmed that in order to combat Mexican cartels, arms sales must be stopped

Glen VanHerck, head of the US Northern Command (Photo: Screenshot)

For the head of the United States Northern Command, Glen VanHerck, the best way to combat drug cartels in Mexico is to stop the sale of weapons to these criminal groups.

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This was stated this Thursday during a hearing before the Armed Services Committee of the House of Representatives, where he explained that the cartels have demonstrated their weapons capacity, and therefore control the distribution of fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine and different drugs.

“We must focus on what goes south, not just what comes north”

“They compete for control of lucrative illicit markets. The cartels control the trafficking of fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine, in addition to other drugs. And they are demonstrating their ability to use improvised explosives and small unmanned aerial systems against Mexican security forces in Mexico, which will likely embolden the cartels and challenge our partners,” he added.

A Mexican man uses a large-caliber weapon made in the US (Photo: EFE)

In this sense, he assured that the Northern Command works in coordination with Luis Cresencio Sandoval, head of the Secretary of National Defense (Sedena), and with Rafael Ojeda Durán, head of the Secretary of the Navy (Semar), to implement security strategies for both countries.

“(We work) on providing intelligence to investigate the money that is sent to the south, the weapons that are sent to the south, which is crucial and we will continue to work on that”

On the other hand, VanHerck praised the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador for the arrest of Caro Quintero, Ovidio Guzmán, and José Rodolfo Villareal Hernández, alias “El Gato”, which, he assured, reaffirm the country’s commitment to continue with the fight against organized crime.

“These arrests are examples of a shared commitment to justice, backed by shared values ​​and our decades-long partnership.”

General Luis Cresencio Sandoval, head of the Sedena, talks with President López Obrador (Photo: Cuartoscuro)

“The Ministry of National Defense (Sedena) and the Ministry of the Navy (Semar) continue to face enormous internal and external security challenges with professionalism and resilience,” he said.

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In March 2021, VanHerck released a controversial statement, when he pointed out that the cartels operate in up to 35% of the Mexican territory, “areas that are frequently ungovernable” and that this was causing many problems in the United States.

These statements are made in the midst of the debate on how to combat the Mexican drug cartels, since in recent days senators and congressmen from the Republican party have revived the proposal to declare these organizations as terrorists, with the aim of authorizing the US Army to intervene, even in Mexican territory.

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As expected, the proposal was crossed out both by AMLO, as well as by the Secretary of Foreign Relations (SRE), Marcelo Ebrard, as well as by several Mexican politicians, including Senator Ricardo Monreal, as interfering and a violation of the sovereignty of the country, for which reason they announced that they would never allow the entry of US troops into Mexico.

Karine Jean-Pierre, spokeswoman for the White House (Photo: Reuters)

However, the spokeswoman for the White House, Karine Jean-Pierre, assured a few hours later that designating the Mexican cartels as international terrorist organizations would be useless, since said designation would not add new powers to combat them.

“The United States has powerful sanctions authorities specifically designated to combat drug trafficking organizations and the individuals and entities that enable them, so we have not been afraid to use them,” the spokesperson added.

Currently, Mexican drug cartels are already designated under two statutes that impose similar sanctions on terrorist entities: first, the Kingpin Law and the Consolidated Priority Targets List (CPOT). from the US Department of Justice.

Under the current designations against the cartels according to these latest lists, the US Government already has the same capabilities against the Mexican cartels that a terrorist designation would give it: freezing assets under its jurisdiction, prohibiting entry to its territory and establishing pecuniary sanctions.

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