Mexico to intercept suspected drug boats to prevent further US strikes

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced Thursday that an agreement has been reached with the United States regarding the alleged drug-running boats that the Donald Trump administration has been targeting since last September. Under the new arrangement, Mexico’s Navy will be responsible for intercepting these vessels in international waters near the country’s coasts in order to prevent further bombings, according to the joint operational protocols agreed upon by both governments. The goal, Sheinbaum explained, is to avoid more attacks like the one that occurred two weeks ago, 400 nautical miles off Acapulco, when Mexico attempted — so far without success — to rescue the sole survivor.

Mexico’s Secretary of the Navy, Admiral Raymundo Pedro Morales Ángeles, proposed to the U.S. a coordination mechanism in international waters to comply with maritime treaties on how to handle boats suspected of drug trafficking. “There are joint protocols for operations in international waters to prevent the use of bombings against vessels and to ensure compliance with all international treaties. What the Secretary of the Navy proposed was simply that those treaties be respected, and in principle, they agreed. That’s the first accord,” Sheinbaum said during her morning press conference. “If information comes from U.S. agencies or from Southern Command itself, it will be the Mexican Navy that intercepts those vessels allegedly carrying drugs. The protocol remains in place, and we are in constant communication,” she added.

The president did not provide further details about the initial agreement reached by the working group with the United States — the same one she requested after the Mexican Navy launched a maritime search and rescue operation at the request of the U.S. Coast Guard following the bombing off the coast of Acapulco. Hours after the operation began, Mexican Foreign Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente and Admiral Morales Ángeles conveyed to U.S. Ambassador Ronald Johnson Mexico’s rejection of Washington’s attacks. “We do not agree with these attacks, with the way they are being carried out,” Sheinbaum stressed on October 28, asking the Navy and the Foreign Ministry to address the issue.

The agreement serves as a firewall to prevent the tensions caused by U.S. attacks in Pacific and Caribbean waters — off the coast of Colombia and Venezuela — from spilling over to Mexico. Washington’s aggressive offensive in its war on drugs and cartels has so far led the U.S. military to sink 18 vessels and kill 69 people. The Trump administration, however, has not presented evidence that the boats were carrying drugs.

For that reason, Colombian President Gustavo Petro has ordered all intelligence levels within the Colombian security forces to suspend “the exchange of communications and other dealings” with U.S. agencies while the attacks continue. Meanwhile, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has instructed Venezuela’s Defense Minister and the head of the National Bolivarian Armed Forces to raise military alert levels across the country.

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