Washington (EFE).- The objective of the US Republicans to declare the drug cartels as terrorist groups took another step in that direction on Wednesday with the presentation of two bills that advocate for that designation and for authorizing the actions of the Army.
Roger Marshall and Rick Scott introduced their regulations in response to the kidnapping of four Americans last Friday in the city of Matamoros, on the Texas border, and the murder of two of them.
In its crosshairs are the Gulf, Northeast, Jalisco Nueva Generación and Sinaloa cartels, and in addition to classifying them as terrorists, it would prohibit its members from entering the United States, authorize the freezing of their assets, and prohibit anyone from helping them. consciously.
Two projects deal with cartels
In that of the also Republican legislators Lindsey Graham and John Neely Kennedy are in turn the Sinaloa cartel, the Jalisco Nueva Generación, the Gulf, Los Zetas, the Northeast, the Juárez, the Tijuana, the Los Beltrán-Leyva and La Familia Michoacana.
“They have terrorized Americans for decades. We are going to destroy their business model and lifestyle because our national security depends on taking decisive action,” Graham told a news conference.
His bill will be introduced “within a few days” and also promotes declaring these cartels as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) in order to activate more mechanisms against them.
The senators also want the US Army to be authorized to intervene against these organizations “wherever they are”. “Not to invade Mexico or shoot down Mexican aircraft, but to destroy their laboratories” and their networks, Graham said.
“We hope to do it in collaboration with the countries where they are, but if we have to do it on our own, we will do it alone,” he warned.
The tipping point that led them to accelerate action is the rise of fentanyl.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced last December that it had seized 379 million potentially fatal doses of fentanyl in 2022, “enough to kill all US citizens.”
A message for Mexico
Graham labeled Mexico a “narcoterrorist state” and sent a message to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador: “Fentanyl is a weapon of mass destruction that is coming from your country. You are allowing havens for these groups to operate with impunity. We ask you to help us.”
Mexico sees the designation sought as a violation of its sovereignty because it would authorize the US Army to combat these organizations.
The Mexican cartels are already sanctioned by the United States, but the Administration of Democrat Joe Biden does not rule out the possibility of going further for now.
“We will always do what is most effective and what is in our power to hold them accountable,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Tuesday, while Attorney General Merrick Garland warned that relations must be taken care of. bilateral, but he is not opposed to that designation either.
