US Launches Massive All Out Military Offensive On Drug Cartels
President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that the
administration was launching an all out assault on Mexican drug cartels using
the U.S. military.
“As governments and nations focus on the Coronavirus, there
is a growing threat that cartels, criminals, terrorists, and other malign
actors will try to exploit the situation for their own gain and we must not let
that happen,” Trump said. “We will never let that happen. Today the United
States is launching enhanced counter narcotics operations in the western
hemisphere to protect the American people from the deadly scourge of illegal
narcotics.”
“We must not let the drug cartels exploit the pandemic to
threaten American lives,” Trump continued. “In cooperation with the 22 partner
nations, the U.S. Southern Command will increase surveillance, disruption, and
seizures of drug shipments, and provide additional support for eradication
efforts that are going on right now at a record pace.”
“We are deploying additional Navy destroyers, combat ships,
aircraft and helicopters, Coast Guard cutters and Air Force surveillance
aircraft, doubling the capabilities in the region,” Trump continued. “Very
importantly, our forces are fully equipped with personnel protective equipment,
and we have taken additional safety measures to ensure that our troops remain
healthy.”
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said, “Today at the
president’s direction, the Department of Defense in close cooperation with our
interagency partners began enhanced narcotics separations in eastern Pacific
oceans and the Caribbean sea.”
“To conduct to the enhanced operations, the president has
directed deployment of ships, aircraft and security forces to the United States
Southern Command area of responsibility,” Esper continued. “Included in this
force package are Navy destroyers and littoral combat ships, Coast Guard
cutters, P8 control aircraft, and elements of an Army security force assistance
brigade. These additional forces will nearly double our capacity to conduct
counter narcotics operations in the region.”
The DEA reported in its most recent threat assessment guide
that Mexican drug cartels remained by far the greatest criminal threat to the
U.S.
“Mexican TCOs remain the greatest criminal drug threat to
the United States; no other groups are currently positioned to challenge them,”
the DEA stated. “The Sinaloa Cartel maintains the most expansive footprint in
the United States, while the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (Cartel Jalisco
Nueva
Generación or CJNG) has become the second-most dominant
domestic presence over the past few
years.”
The DEA added, “Although drug-related murders in Mexico
continue to reach epidemic proportions, U.S.-based Mexican TCO members still
generally refrain from domestic inter-cartel conflicts, resulting in minimal
spillover violence in the United States.”
The DEA noted that Colombian TCOs’ have a heavy but indirect
influence on U.S. drug markets because they supply cocaine to the Mexican
cartels, who then move it into the U.S.
Mexican cartels are responsible for the overwhelming
majority of illicit drugs that are present in the U.S., including cocaine,
meth, fentanyl, heroin, and marijuana.
The report added, “DEA reporting continues to indicate the
Sinaloa and CJNG Cartels are likely the primary trafficking groups responsible
for smuggling fentanyl into the United States from Mexico.”
Comments
Post a Comment