Mexico worries its citizens might get blown up at sea by US
EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Mexico is worried American missile attacks on drug-laden boats at sea will eventually result in the loss of Mexican lives.
That’s why Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente on Tuesday met with U.S. Ambassador Ronald D. Johnson to propose joint interdiction rather than unilateral action on vessels near Mexican territorial waters.
“We are not in agreement with these interventions, and we have a protocol that has yielded results,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said. “If the United States sees that a boat on international waters is allegedly carrying drugs, they (should) coordinate and either our Navy secretary or the U.S. government agencies detain the suspects.”
The meeting came a day after new U.S. attacks on the Pacific Ocean reportedly struck multiple vessels of suspected drug traffickers, killing 14. One of the attacks occurred in or near what Mexico considers its 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone in the Pacific, per Mexican officials.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Mexican authorities coordinated the rescue of a survivor.
“All strikes were in international waters with no U.S. forces harmed,” Hegseth posted on X. “The Department has spent over two decades defending other homelands. Now, we’re defending our own. These narco-terrorists have killed more Americans than al-Qaeda, and they will be treated the same.”
The Trump administration has labeled eight cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and has bombed more than a dozen ships suspected of carrying drugs in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean since September, killing dozens of occupants.
Speaking at a news conference in Mexico City broadcast on social media on Wednesday, Sheinbaum said her government is willing to improve existing public safety protocols in international waters with the United States but wants them to remain in place.
“First, we don’t want any violations of our sovereignty nor to have these types of operations (boat bombings) in the economic zone,” she said. “Secondly, there could be a Mexican (citizen) – whether a suspected criminal or not – on those boats.”
Sheinbaum said the U.S. ambassador pledged to pass on Mexico’s concerns to the Administration.