The Trump administration is preparing to designate a series of Mexican drug cartels and two from Central and South America as foreign terrorist organizations. The move comes as Mexico continues to experience unprecedented levels of violence, including the widespread use of landmines and improvised explosive devices, despite empty government claims that crime has decreased and impunity has ended.
A document reviewed by Breitbart Texas revealed that the U.S. State Department is expected to designate the Sinaloa Cartel, Cartel Jalisco New Generation, The Gulf Cartel, The Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas (Northeast Cartel), Carteles Unidos, and Familia Michoacana as foreign terrorist organizations on February 19.
The designation would include the Central American gang Mara Salvatrucha and the South American Tren De Aragua.
The move follows an executive order signed on January 20 by U.S. President Donald Trump that calls for designating cartels as terrorist organizations and for their complete eradication.
The news was first reported by the New York Times, which claimed that the list included the Colombian criminal organization Clan Del Golfo. However, according to Breitbart Texas Director Brandon Darby, who had access to various FBI documents regarding the upcoming order, the list meant the Gulf Cartel.
Breitbart Texas and Breitbart News Foundation have reported extensively on the Gulf Cartel, the reign of terror that they have unleashed on northern Mexico and the protection that they receive from the Tamaulipas government as well as Mexico’s federal government.
In addition to mass killings, widespread kidnapping, and torture, each of the six cartels has also been linked to the indiscriminate use of explosives and some of them to the use of land mines to protect their territories.
All of those organizations have a long history of receiving government protection, as well as legal protection, with Mexican judges routinely releasing captured cartel figures, Breitbart Texas reported.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
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