President Donald Trump has escalated his public calls for military action against the Mexican drug cartels as they face intense infighting and struggle to adapt to his military buildup at the southern border. Though Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has resisted direct American military intervention, Trump has renewed the push as the situation appears ripe for some kind of decisive action.
American troops have not been deployed to Mexico for combat purposes since 1916, in pursuit of Mexican bandit/revolutionary Pancho Villa following his attack on Columbus, New Mexico. Led by Brigadier General John J. "Blackjack" Pershing, the 10,000-strong expeditionary force failed to capture Villa and withdrew in 1917.
Sheinbaum, over the weekend, said that Trump had offered to deploy American military personnel to Mexico to help her combat the cartels, but that she had refused him.
“How can we help you fight drug trafficking? I propose that the United States military come in and help you,” she quoted him as saying. “And you know what I said to him? ‘No, President Trump.’” She further said that Mexican “sovereignty is not for sale” and that she had told him “we can work together, but you in your territory and us in ours.”
