U.S. designates Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations

The U.S. Department of State has designated eight Mexican and Latin American cartels and criminal organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs), according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

On Thursday, Rubio announced the State Department’s designation of six Mexican cartels and two transnational criminal organizations as FTOs and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs), following an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on his first day in office.

The cartels and organizations designated as FTOs and SDGTs are:

• Cártel de Sinaloa (CDS)
• Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG)
• Cártel del Noreste (CDN, formerly Los Zetas)
• La Nueva Familia Michoacana (LNFM)
• Cártel del Golfo (CDG)
• Cárteles Unidos (CU)
• Tren de Aragua (Originated in Venezuela)
• Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13, originated in Los Angeles, CA)
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“The intent of designating these cartels and transnational organizations as terrorists is to protect our nation, the American people, and our hemisphere,” said Marco Rubio. “That means stopping the campaigns of violence and terror by these vicious groups both in the United States and internationally. These designations provide law enforcement additional tools to stop these groups.”

Trump’s executive order aimed to “ensure the total elimination of these organizations’ presence in the United States and their ability to threaten the territory, safety, and security of the United States through their extraterritorial command-and-control structures.”

In response to the designation, Mexican President Sheinbaum announced plans to propose constitutional reforms prohibiting any foreign intervention in investigations and prosecutions without the authorization of the Mexican government. She also proposed changes to Article 19 to include arms trafficking in the list of crimes that merit detention and to impose severe penalties on foreigners involved in illegal activities.

“They can call it whatever they decide, but with Mexico, it is collaboration and coordination—never subordination, non-interference, and much less invasion,” Sheinbaum said.