Rubio vows to ramp up cartel strikes but praises Mexico

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (left) and Mexican Foreign Secretary Juan Ramon de la Fuente after talks in Mexico City on disrupting drug traffickers. Photo / Carl de Souza, AFP

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has vowed to ramp up strikes on drug cartels after blowing up an alleged smugglers’ boat off Venezuela, but assured Mexico of respect for its sovereignty.

In the highest-level meeting between the two neighbours since Donald Trump returned to the White House, Rubio met for an hour and a half in Mexico City with President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has sought co-operation in the complicated relationship with Washington.

The visit came a day after Trump said US forces blew up an alleged drug boat off the coast of Venezuela, whose leftist leader, Nicolas Maduro, is an avowed opponent of the US.

Rubio pledged to raise the stakes for drug traffickers, saying that years of peaceful efforts had not worked and had not affected cartels’ bottom lines.

The US “blew it up and it’ll happen again. Maybe it’s happening right now,” Rubio told a news conference.

“These are not stockbrokers. These are not real estate agents who, on the side, deal with drugs.

“If you’re on a boat full of cocaine or fentanyl, whatever, headed to the United States, you’re an immediate threat to the United States,” he said.

However, he made clear that he did not have similar qualms about Mexico and hailed Sheinbaum’s efforts.

“It is the closest security co-operation we have ever had, maybe with any country, but certainly in the history of US-Mexico relations.”

In a joint statement, the two countries said they “reaffirm our security co-operation, which is based on the principles of reciprocity, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, shared and differentiated responsibility, as well as mutual trust”.

Sheinbaum, speaking before the attack on the boat, said that any US military “intervention” in Mexico was a red line.

Sign to Venezuela

AFP has not been able to verify the number of people on the boat or their identities.

The attack came after Trump signed an executive order authorising military action against drug cartels.

But Venezuela is a unique case, as the US does not recognise the legitimacy of President Nicolas Maduro, a firebrand whose last election in 2024 was widely seen internationally and by the opposition as riddled with irregularities.

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado hailed what she called a tightening of the “siege imposed by Western democracies” on Maduro’s “narco-terrorist cartel”.

“Venezuela is almost free,” Machado said in a video. “Nothing can stop a people who have already decided to be free and live in democracy.”

Pragmatic approach by Sheinbaum

Sheinbaum, who also comes from the political left, has sought a pragmatic relationship with Trump, who has voiced respect for her despite his past harsh comments about Mexicans.

Like her predecessor and fellow leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Sheinbaum has largely co-operated with Trump in his key priority of curbing migration to the US.

Mexico has stepped up enforcement on its borders in recent years, including its own southern border, which is a gateway for Central American migrants to the US.

Sheinbaum has also taken steps to curb imports from China, whose manufacturers have eyed Mexico as a way into the US market.

The Trump administration has already imposed a slew of new sanctions in the hopes of weakening drug cartels in Mexico.

Trump blames the cartels for the flow of fentanyl, the powerful painkiller behind an addiction and overdose epidemic in the US.

- Agence France-Presse