The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum. Photo: X/@Claudiashein.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum condemned the United States’ attacks on small boats in international waters of the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean under the guise of an anti-drug operation.
“Obviously, we do not agree. There are international laws governing how to handle a suspected illegal transport of drugs or weapons in international waters, and we have made that clear,” she said in response to a journalist’s question during her morning press conference on Thursday, October 23.
When asked about the public dispute between US President Donald Trump and Colombian President Gustavo Petro, she said that each president “has his own style” when it comes to handling an international debate or the relationship with the United States. She added that in the case of Mexico, her government will defend the principles of sovereignty and a framework of honest dialogue in pursuit of agreement.
Sheinbaum made this comment in the context of the ongoing US military escalation in the Caribbean. These operations principally target Venezuela, which the US accuses of being a “narcostate” flooding the US with drugs. However, these claims contradict reports by specialized organizations demonstrating that Venezuela is neither a producer nor a transit route for drugs from Latin America to the US.
To date, the new US “war on drugs” has caused the destruction of nine boats and taken the lives of at least 35 people, among them Venezuelans, Colombians, Trinidadians, and Ecuadorians. One of the attacks was carried out within Colombia’s territorial waters, killing a Colombian fisherman, as condemned by President Petro.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson criticizes US escalation in the Caribbean
The US should carry out a special operation in the Manhattan neighborhood of New York to combat drug trafficking, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova stated on Thursday.
“The CIA has been authorized to conduct covert operations in Venezuela,” she noted. “Of course, but excuse me, if the United States needs—if it so desperately wants to deploy its intelligence agencies to combat drugs and drug trafficking—it should carry out a special operation in Manhattan. That is where the real disgrace lies. It is simply everywhere.”
Zakharova, who worked for several years as a diplomat in New York City, added that it would be very easy since anyone on the street would be able to tell how and by whom the drugs are distributed.
“The United States’ use of force is increasingly raising questions,” she said, citing reports of Venezuelan, Colombian, Ecuadorian, and Trinidadian citizens killed. “Some sources claim that they may have simply been fishermen. It would have been possible to determine the exact identity of the occupants during an inspection of the vessel, had there been legal grounds to do so.”
“The deliberate destruction of vessels on the sea, which condemns the crew to death, is contrary to international maritime law and fundamental morality,” she added. “All of this is causing growing concern among the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, which declared the region as a zone of peace in 2014.”
“We support the stable and independent development of the region and the resolution of all disagreements through peaceful and civilized means. We reaffirm our firm support for Venezuela’s leadership in defending its national sovereignty,” she concluded.
Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff
OT/SC/SF
