Mexican president-elect refutes Trump's claim drug cartels run Mexico

MEXICO CITY – Mexican President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum hit back Wednesday at a claim by former US president and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump that drug cartels run Mexico.

During a recent interview with Fox News, Trump and his vice presidential running mate JD Vance claimed that drug cartels have taken over the Mexican government, stressing that they could remove the president in "two minutes" if they wanted to.

During a press conference, Sheinbaum, the successor to outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, refuted Trump's claims and said crime was going down in Mexico.

"I do not agree," she said. "Mexico has made progress in reducing insecurity, and we are going to make even more progress."

Sheinbaum presented the latest figures from Mexico's National Institute of Statistics and Geography on the perception of insecurity in Mexico in the second quarter of 2024, showing that it has decreased from 76.8 percent in 2018 to 59.4 percent in June this year.

Trump has promised a more aggressive approach toward drug cartels operating in Mexico, saying they are killing "300,000 people a year" in the US by smuggling fentanyl into the country.

Speaking to Fox News, Trump said military strikes on Mexican territory remain an option during his administration.

On Wednesday, Sheinbaum said her government would work with the winner of the US presidential election in November on shared matters, such as the United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) free trade agreement and drug trafficking.

"It will be up to us in due time to work with the government…at the end of January…which is when the new president enters," she said.

"We are going to work on (the USMCA) and other issues that also have to do with security, drug trafficking and arms trafficking to Mexico, upholding President Lopez Obrador's vision of not subordination, but treatment among equals," she said. (PNA)