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FILE PHOTO: Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador attends a news conference at the National Palace in Mexico City, Mexico, November 13, 2019. REUTERS\/Edgard Garrido<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
BY ZACHARY STIEBER
\nThe Epoch Times<\/p>\n
Mexico<\/a>\u00a0doesn\u2019t agree with the United States potentially designating\u00a0cartels<\/a>\u00a0as terrorists, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will never accept that, we are not \u2018vendepatrias\u2019 (nation sellers),\u201d Lopez Obrador said at his morning press conference on Nov. 25,\u00a0Breitbart reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Lopez Obrador\u2019s foreign relations minister Marcelo Ebrard said that the designation would be unnecessary. He noted that if America designates cartels as terrorists, it could open up a legal avenue for the United States to take action against cartels inside of Mexico.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think the United States will pursue this path because we\u2019re working together, and I don\u2019t think they would want to open up the possibility of Mexico invoking the same legal principles,\u201d Ebrard told reporters, according\u00a0to Reuters<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ebrard said he feels the United States and Mexico are already working together against cartels. The FBI is working with Mexican law enforcement in the investigation into the killing of\u00a0nine American citizens nearly three weeks ago.<\/p>\n The victims were all women and children, and cartel members were the suspects. Over 100 people have left the village the victims lived in since the attack, heading for the United States.<\/p>\n Shortly after the killings, President Donald Trump said the United States would help Mexico against cartels, calling them \u201cmonsters,\u201d if Mexican authorities needed help.<\/p>\n \u201cThe great new President of Mexico has made this a big issue, but the cartels have become so large and powerful that you sometimes need an army to defeat an army!\u201d Trump wrote. In another missive, he said, \u201cThis is the time for Mexico, with the help of the United States, to wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth. We merely await a call from your great new president!\u201d<\/p>\n Some U.S. officials\u00a0have also suggested<\/a>\u00a0America might be forced to take action if Mexico can\u2019t deal with the cartels and Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Mark Green (R-Tenn.) have introduced\u00a0legislation<\/a>\u00a0that would designate cartels as terrorists.<\/p>\n Lopez Obrador has tried adopting a softer approach to cartels than some of his predecessors, arguing that violence only begets more violence.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was lamentable, painful because children died, but do we want to resolve the problem the same way (as previous administrations)? By declaring war?\u201d he said at a press conference. \u201cThat, in the case of our country, showed that it does not work. That was a failure. It caused more violence.\u201d<\/p>\n Mexican authorities also released the son of\u00a0notorious drug lord Joaquin \u201cEl Chapo\u201d Guzman in October after Mexican law enforcement was drawn into a major battle in broad daylight following the capture of the son, Ovidio Guzman Lopez.<\/p>\n Relatives of the American-Mexican victims of the cartel ambush started a petition on the \u201cWe the People\u201d platform seeking the designation of cartels as terrorists.<\/p>\n \u201cWith seemingly unlimited resources, it has proven almost impossible to stop them. They run major human trafficking networks. They kidnap and extort with almost complete impunity. Their unbridled acts of violence and murder have overrun our borders and created an international crisis. They seek political power in order to create a narco-state in Mexico,\u201d the petition stated.<\/p>\n \u201cEach year, there are approximately 35 percent more murders committed in Mexico than by all officially designated terrorist groups combined. We cannot afford to continue the same failed policies used to combat organized crime. They are terrorists, and it\u2019s time to acknowledge it!\u201d<\/p>\n If the petition gets at least 100,000 signatures by Dec. 24, it will get a written response from the White House.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2019\/11\/25\/mexican-crime-scene.jpg\")
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