Mexico Wants ‘Meeting’ After Trump Discusses ‘Terrorist’ Label for Cartels

Mexico City announced efforts to have a “meeting” with U.S. officials after President Donald Trump’s recent announcement to designate some cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs).

In a prepared statement issued by Mexico’s Foreign Relations Ministry, officials reached out to their U.S. counterparts to explore the consequences that terrorist designations would entail.

“In lieu of the good relations that exist between both countries, the Government of Mexico will seek to have a high-level meeting as soon as possible to present Mexico’s position and to learn the viewpoints of the authorities from the U.S.”

The call for a meeting followed moments after President Trump said during an interview with Bill O’Reilly that he had been working for the last “90 days” on designations.

Mexico’s Foreign Relations Ministry said they seek a dialogue about ways to reduce the southern flow of weapons and money, while cutting northbound the traffic of drugs and chemicals.

The latest statement stands in stark contrast with remarks given by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, where he preempted the matter Monday by saying Mexico would reject terrorist designations given by foreign nations.

“We will never accept that, we are not ‘vendepatrias’ (nation sellers),” Lopez Obrador said.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com. 

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.