Mexico’s Sheinbaum vows to protect national sovereignty as US cracks down on cartels in its territory

(CNN) — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum says she’ll propose reforms to the country’s constitution aiming to reinforce the nation’s sovereignty, after the US designated several Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations – a move that could potentially lay the groundwork for direct US strikes inside Mexican territory.

“The people of Mexico, under no circumstances will accept interventions, interference or any other act from abroad that is harmful to the integrity, independence and sovereignty of the nation,” Sheinbaum said Thursday during her daily press conference.

The measures would apply to the entire Mexican territory including “land, water, sea or airspace,” she added.

The US has been covertly flying MQ-9 Reaper drones inside Mexican airspace to spy on drug cartels, CNN recently reported, as part of Trump’s dramatic reorientation of national security assets to the US southern border.

Sheinbaum and other senior Mexican officials have previously emphasized concerns over sovereignty following revelations that US spy plane flights are also occurring near the border, albeit in international airspace and over US territory. Defense Minister Ricardo Trevilla said last week that he had not been given a heads up on the spy plane flights.

Sheinbaum is now proposing reforms to constitutional articles 39 and 40, which focus on Mexico’s independence and sovereignty.

The proposed reforms include Mexico prohibiting any “intervention for investigations and prosecutions without the express authorization and collaboration of the Mexican state within the framework of the applicable laws.”

Sheinbaum also said that the US decision to designate certain criminal groups in Mexico as terrorist organizations was not undertaken in consultation with her government.

“What we want to make clear with this designation is that we do not negotiate sovereignty, this can’t be an opportunity by the United States to invade our sovereignty,” the president said.

“They can call (cartels) whatever they decide, but with Mexico it is collaboration and coordination, never subordination, no interference and even less invasion.”

Separately, Sheinbaum said she is also proposing another reform to target “any national or foreigner involved in the illicit manufacture, distribution, disposal, transfer and internment of weapons into the national territory.”

US-made guns have long been identified as an important source of firepower for criminal groups across Latin America and the Caribbean. Mexico has claimed in the past that “almost all” weapons recovered from crime scenes – 70% to 90% – were trafficked from the US into Mexico.

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