Sheinbaum Announces Visits by U.S. Officials for Security Talks

 

Cooperation with Washington must respect sovereignty and keep operations within each country’s territory, she stressed.

On Monday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin and Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy Sarah Carter will visit Mexico in the coming days.

Sheinbaum will hold meetings with them to coordinate security issues, but reiterated that any collaboration must respect sovereignty and that “each side operates in its own territory.”

Mullin will arrive in Mexico on Thursday, May 21, while Carter will arrive Monday, May 25. The meetings follow a conversation Sheinbaum held with U.S. President Donald Trump on May 15, during which both reviewed security and trade issues and agreed to maintain bilateral dialogue.

Sheinbaum emphasized that Mexico is especially interested in speaking with Carter because she participated in a U.S. document on addiction prevention, an approach that Mexico considers key to reducing violence associated with drug trafficking.

The text reads, “President Claudia Sheinbaum reiterated that it is not true that in Mexico ‘there are narco governments’ as Donald Trump says. The president maintained that Trump was not referring directly to her or her administration.”

“What is the best way the United States can support Mexico? By reducing consumption and preventing weapons from entering Mexico,” Sheinbaum said, while also calling on Washington to combat cartels distributing drugs within U.S. territory and the money laundering generated by those operations.

The Mexican president insisted that her country accepts information-sharing, but not the operation of U.S. forces or agencies within national territory.

“If they want to help us with information, they are welcome. But in Mexico, Mexican institutions necessarily have to operate. The United States cannot operate here. That is called sovereignty,” she said.

Sheinbaum’s remarks come amid tensions over allegations in the U.S. regarding supposed links between Mexican politicians and organized crime, and after two former officials from the state of Sinaloa, Gerardo Merida and Enrique Diaz, were handed over to the U.S. on drug trafficking charges brought by Washington.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE