SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — The United States will not be sending its armed forces to Mexico to fright drug cartels or make unilateral decisions against them, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Rubio made those comments at the G7 foreign minister meetings in Canada.
“The United States will give support to Mexico against drug cartels only if the Mexican Government makes a request,” Rubio said. “We are willing to provide all the help they need, obviously, they don’t want us to intervene, we’re not going to take unilateral decisions nor send U.S. armed forces to Mexico.”
Rubio went on to say the U.S. is ready to provide Mexico with equipment, training and the exchange of intelligence saying “there are many types of things we can do if they ask us to.”
When questioned about the murder of Uruapan Mayor Carlos Manzo, Rubio told reporters the U.S. Government is worried about journalists, politicians and judges who are victims of organized crime that controls and governs certain zones within Mexico.
“These cartels are very powerful — they are more powerful than local and national forces.”
The U.S. Secretary of State also said the cooperation between the United States and Mexico is at its highest point in history.
“We have made tremendous advances in the first 10 months of this year, but this is a great problem that exists from long ago, it will take time to reach tangible results.”
Rubio also pointed out that great strides that are being made against fentanyl manufacturing and distribution due to “cooperation from Mexico.”
“We have no complaints about the level of cooperation we’ve gotten from Mexico, the work we are doing at this moment with them is historic, but there’s still a lot to be done.”