MEXICO CITY: Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum called on Monday on the United States to halt the flow of weapons to her country´s drug cartels, after President Donald Trump criticised her record on fighting the groups.
Trump on Saturday singled out Mexico for criticism at a meeting with leaders of allied Latin American nations to discuss fighting the “cancer” of drug cartels. He told the assembled group -- mostly right-wing or hard-right figures -- at his Florida golf club that “cartels are running Mexico” and were “getting worse.”
“We can´t have that,” he declared at the launch of a 17-nation “counter cartel” coalition and offered to use US missiles, vowing to “eradicate them (Mexican cartels).” Sheinbaum on Monday put the ball firmly back in Washington´s court.
“If the flow of illegal weapons from the United States into Mexico is stopped, these groups won´t have access to the high-powered weapons they need to carry out their criminal activities,” the leftist leader said.
She claimed that 75 percent of the cartels´ weapons came from Mexico´s northern neighbor. Under pressure from Trump to halt the flow of drugs into the United States, Sheinbaum has taken steps to up Mexico´s fight against organized crime.
