US Military Launches Operation Absolute Resolve in Venezuela, Arresting Nicolas Maduro on Narco Terrorism Charges

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

U.S. forces struck at least 13 targets across Caracas during an operation aimed at capturing Venezuela’s leader. Delta Force helicopters were tracked landing near Maduro’s hideout.

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CIA Likely Behind December 18 and December 24 Land Strikes on Venezuelan Drug Targets

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

A firsthand account of an explosion along the Venezuelan coast on December 18 is raising questions about who may have been responsible for the attack and whether it and a supposed fire at a nearby chemical plant were either of the drone strikes confirmed by Trump on December 26.

Two members of Venezuela’s Wayuu indigenous community in the area told NBC News that they witnessed an unexplained explosion on December 18 that destroyed a hut along the coast that possibly was used for storage.

The arid coastal strip in the northwest of Venezuela, known as Alta Guajira, is heavily controlled by the National Liberation Army or ELN, an armed guerilla group known for its history of drug trafficking that is also active in neighboring Colombia.

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Marijuana is Lowered to Schedule 3 in the US as Fentanyl is Declared a WMD

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to expedite the reclassification of marijuana – an effort to increase research on its medical use but not fully legalize it.

“This reclassification order will make it far easier to conduct marijuana-related medical research, allowing us to study benefits, potential dangers and future treatments,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “It’s going to have a tremendously positive impact.”

The order — which directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to hasten the process of loosening federal restrictions but does not include a timeline — comes after an intensive lobbying campaign from the cannabis industry.

“I’ve never been inundated by so many people as I have about this particular reclassification,” Trump said.

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Trump Pardons Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, Convicted of Cocaine Trafficking in 2024

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

US President Donald Trump said Friday that he will be pardoning former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who in 2024 was convicted for drug trafficking and weapons charges and sentenced to 45 years in prison.

The President explained his decision on social media by posting that "according to many people that I greatly respect," Hernandez was "treated very harshly and unfairly."

In March of last year, Hernandez was convicted in U.S. court of conspiring to import cocaine into the US. He had served served two terms as the leader of the Central American nation of roughly 10 million people. He had been arrested and eventually extradited in 2022 following the end of his second presidential term.

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OFAC Sanctions Colombian President Gustavo Petro for Narcotics Violations

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

From a US Treasury News Release

Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego (Gustavo Petro), the President of Colombia, pursuant to counternarcotics-related authorities. In addition, OFAC is also designating several supporters of Gustavo Petro, namely his wife, his son, and a close associate.

“Since President Gustavo Petro came to power, cocaine production in Colombia has exploded to the highest rate in decades, flooding the United States and poisoning Americans,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “President Petro has allowed drug cartels to flourish and refused to stop this activity. Today, President Trump is taking strong action to protect our nation and make clear that we will not tolerate the trafficking of drugs into our nation.”

Today’s action was taken pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 14059, which targets foreign persons involved in the global illicit drug trade.

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Colombian President Petro Responds to Trump's Order for Military Action Against Cartels

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

From an Infobae Article

In recent days, a report by The New York Times revealed that US President Donald Trump had signed a secret order authorizing the use of military force against cartels and drug trafficking organizations in Latin America.

The measure, considered by analysts to be the broadest in decades, would not be limited to diplomatic or economic sanctions, but would also allow direct attacks by the Pentagon on targets in countries in the region, including Colombia .

President Gustavo Petro expressed concern about this provision, warning that it could open the door to U.S. military operations on Colombian territory.

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Trump Directs Military Action Against Cartels Following $50 Million Reward for Venezuela’s Maduro

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

According to the New York Times, President Trump has secretly signed a directive to the Pentagon to begin using military force against certain Latin American drug cartels that his administration has deemed terrorist organizations, according to people familiar with the matter.

The decision to bring the American military into the fight is the most aggressive step so far in the administration’s escalating campaign against the cartels. It signals Trump’s continued willingness to use military forces to carry out what has primarily been considered a law enforcement responsibility to curb the flow of fentanyl and other illegal drugs.

The order provides an official basis for the possibility of direct military operations at sea and on foreign soil against cartels.

U.S. military officials have started drawing up options for how the military could go after the groups, the people familiar with the conversations said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive internal deliberations.

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Claudia Sheinbaum demands that the US explain whether it gave refuge to the family of 'El Chapo' and Ovidio.

CHAR 

MAY 15, 2025 

VIDEO BY GRUPO FORMULA 

VIDEO TRANSLATION 

Navarro Heraldo Media Group President

Isn't it inconsistent what the United States is doing in this act of receiving certain individuals and, on the other hand, naming the organizations as terrorists?

They have to provide the information.

First and second, why is the information?

They haven't reported it, right?

Why did they enter?

We don't have official or public information that says why this family entered.

We must remember the issue of extradition again, and yes, indeed, there is a policy of not negotiating with terrorists.

They, in a decision to name some organized crime organizations as terrorists.

So, then, they should report if there is an agreement. If there isn't an agreement, they have to report it and they have to explain to the people of the United States how they are reaching an agreement.

How is it that they are doing it? And to Mexico, obviously, why? First They are Mexican, and secondly, one of their relatives was extradited, meaning there is an investigation file here.

There were even more members of the army who died in that operation. So that's why we say that there is information that we don't. The issue isn't whether we fight organized crime or not.

If we don't want that to happen, of course we do.

And we are doing our job. The issue here is what information there is and how they explain this.

So they have to inform. They have to inform, President.

Yesterday in the United States, the first indictment was made.

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CIA Reviewing Its Authority for Lethal Force Use on Cartel Targets

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat
From a CNN Exclusive Report

The CIA is reviewing its authorities to use lethal force against drug cartels in Mexico and beyond as the Trump administration moves to make taking on the cartels a major priority for the intelligence agency, according to a US official and three people briefed on the matter.

The review does not indicate President Donald Trump has ordered the CIA to take direct action against the cartels. But it is designed to help the agency understand what kinds of activities it could legally undertake and what the potential risks would be across the suite of options, the sources said — underscoring how seriously the Trump administration is considering the possibility.

It also highlights some US officials’ concerns that using traditional counterterrorism tools against cartels — as the Trump administration has said it intends to do — carries a much higher risk of collateral damage to American citizens than similar operations conducted in the Middle East, far from US soil.

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Hundreds of Tren de Argua Gang Members Removed from US to El Salvador Using Alien Enemies Act

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

One of the first actions taken following the foundation of the US State Dept designating several cartels and criminal organizations as foreign terrorists was announced in an Executive Action by US President Donald Trump.

Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 Saturday to target the designated foreign terrorist organization Tren de Aragua (TdA) just hours after a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled the law could not be used to deport five Venezuelans.

Soon after the EO was issued, a federal judge blocked any deportations in order to review the application of the law related to the recently FTO designated gang. However, nearly 250 alleged TdA gang members landed in El Salvador as part of the first removals. It is not known and is being determined right now if the planes had been sent prior to the blocked court order.

UPDATE: The federal judge who imposed a block on the deporations questioned a DOJ lawyer over why the two planes did not turn around when he ordered the administration to do so in court. DOJ officials claim the first order was verbal in court and not a written order which was done an hour later after the planes were well on their way.

FlightAware data that showed two planes carrying the deportees were still in the air by the time of the judge's written order at 7:26 p.m. A third plane took off at 7:37 p.m., after the written order was released, they said.

The deportation of hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members has since turned into 126 being TdA gang members and 21 MS-13 gang members and leaders. The remaining 101 Venezuelans being deported for for immigration violations. 

Some of those deported may have been charged with crimes, but not necessarily convicted. And some are believed to have had no gang affiliations whatsoever, just immigration issues.

Francisco Javier Garcia was one of the 101 Venezuelans sent to El Salvador. His family said he does not have a criminal record in Venezuela or the United States.

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State Department Notice Officially Designates 8 Cartels/Gangs as Terrorist Groups

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

The United States State Department designated the gangs MS-13, Tren de Aragua, the Sinaloa Cartel among several other drug cartels as global terrorist organizations, according to a Federal Register notice.

The notice issued by Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the groups pose a risk to U.S. national security, foreign policy and economic interests.

The notice was drafted on February 6, prior to the NYT leak about the designations list and made public today. According to the notice...the Cartel Terrorist Designations go into effect upon the publishing of the letter. February 20, 2025.

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Updated: Cartels Listed as Foreign Terrorist Organizations by US State Dept

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

According to the New York Times, the Trump administration plans to designate more than a half-dozen criminal groups in Latin America as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs), said five US officials with knowledge of the imminent action.

The Executive Order signed by President Trump on January 20, 2025, referred in general to cartels in Mexico. It also specifically named two gangs, Tren de Aragua, a group with roots in Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico and the United States and Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13.

The gang more commonly known as MS-13 was founded in Los Angeles, California by Salvadoran immigrants in the United States during the 1980s and 1990s and expanded throughout El Salvador and other countries following criminal deportations. While heavily involved in extortion, human trafficking and violence, they play a lesser role in the international drug trade.

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US Attorney General Issues Memo on 'Total Elimination of Cartels & TCOs'

 "Socalj" for Borderland Beat

Yesterday morning, Pam Bondi was sworn in as the new Attorney General. Two weeks since President Trump issued the Executive Order to designate cartels and other transnational criminal groups as terrorists.

That day was after the 14 day time period in which federal agencies would make their recommendations for what groups and people fall under the criteria to be designated. Bondi then issued a DOJ memo outlining the plans and methods for eliminating these cartels and criminal groups.

However it falls short of specifically designating any groups mentioned as Transnational Criminal Organizations as terrorist groups. It does however outline the enforcement benefits with groups and individuals that the NSD (National Security Division) designates as terrorists.

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Trump Signs Executive Order Designating Cartels and Certain Gangs as Foreign Terrorist Organizations

 "Socalj" for Borderland Beat

Among the nearly hundred Executive Orders signed by newly inaugurated President Donald Trump on his first afternoon in office included an order to designate Mexican Cartels and other groups as FTOs, or Foreign Terrorist Organizations. 

This designation had been touted often during his first administration and when campaigning for both subsequent elections. Searching through Borderland Beat archives, Congress has been exploring this idea of designating the cartels as terrorists since at least 2012.

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CBP One App Goes Offline, Asylum Appointments Cancelled

 "Socalj" for Borderland Beat

Effective January 20, 2025, the functionalities of CBP One™ that previously allowed undocumented aliens to submit advance information and schedule appointments at eight southwest border ports of entry is no longer available, and existing appointments have been cancelled.

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Claudia Sheinbaum Responds To Donald Trump: “We Will Never Be Subordinated”.

 "Char" for Borderland Beat 

This information was posted by EL PAIS 

President rejects intervention by U.S. forces in Mexico after Republican magnate announces he will declare cartels terrorist organizations

WRITTEN BY: Darinka Rodríguez,Zedryk Raziel

Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum has responded to US President-elect Donald Trump's threat that he will declare Mexican drug cartels as “terrorist organizations” as soon as he takes office in January. Sheinbaum has affirmed this Monday that her government will collaborate on security matters with the Trump Administration without allowing outrages to Mexican sovereignty. “We collaborate, we coordinate, we work together, but we will never subordinate ourselves. Mexico is a free, sovereign, independent country and we do not accept interference. It is collaboration, it is coordination, but it is not subordination. And we are going to build peace,” Sheinbaum said from Mazatlan this weekend.

The president has stressed that drugs are consumed in the United States and that it is on that side of the border where the weapons that generate violence in Mexico come from. “I said it in the letter I wrote to President Donald Trump, who is going to take office in January of next year: drugs are consumed there, mainly; the weapons come from there, and here we put the lives. Not that,” the president mentioned.

Sheinbaum has referred to the letter in which she responded to Trump's repeated threats to unleash a tariff war as a pressure measure to force Mexico to contain the caravans of migrants, mostly Latin Americans, seeking to reach the US. In that text, written with forcefulness, the Mexican president, who assumed the presidency in October, alluded to the absolute lack of self-criticism of the United States regarding its co-responsibility in the problem of violence.

This is not the first time Trump has announced his intentions to exercise a heavy-handed policy to confront drug trafficking. “All foreign gang members will be expelled and I will immediately designate the cartels as foreign terrorist groups. I will do it immediately,” Trump declared this weekend during a forum of the ultra-conservative organization Turning Point in Phoenix (Arizona). “We will unleash the full power of federal law enforcement - ICE, Border Patrol, the narcotics agency [DEA], the intelligence community, and [apply] financial sanctions to remove the migrant criminal gangs that are murdering, raping and maiming our citizens. We will get rid of them [...] we will deport, dismantle and destroy that network operating illegally on US soil,” he added.

Trump's announced strategy to combat organized crime is laced with racist and xenophobic prejudices, very much present during the campaign that propelled him to the US presidency for the second time. The Republican has previously said that he will close the border with Mexico from “day one” of his administration to curb “criminality”, associating it with migrants, a group he has described on several occasions as rapists, thieves or murderers.

From Mexico, politicians, businessmen and analysts have warned that implementing such a measure would only damage the economy of the North American region as a whole. Additionally, the president-elect has promised to carry out the largest deportation in history of migrants, undocumented or not, including their spouses, children and other related family members. Mexico already acts as a safe third country and accumulates on its northern border thousands of people waiting for asylum in the US. Sheinbaum has added that, should such a scenario occur, she will ask Trump that migrants of nationalities other than Mexican be sent back to their countries of origin.

Several U.S. politicians have advocated for some years the designation of drug cartels as terrorist groups, which would empower their government to act beyond its territory, with the risk of encroaching on Mexico's sovereignty and straining the bilateral relationship to the maximum. Republican legislators are ready to pass such a law. In his first presidential term, Trump offered his then counterpart, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, to send troops to Mexico to fight criminal groups, a proposal that was politely declined.

One of the Republican's concerns is containing the fentanyl epidemic that is killing thousands of Americans. During the last campaign, already as a Republican candidate, Trump declared that the cartels have the power to “remove the president in two minutes; they are the ones running Mexico.”

Trump's return to the White House represents a huge obstacle to President Sheinbaum's government plans. Her proposals to attract more investment through nearshoring, combat organized crime with social reintegration programs, and address immigration with a human rights perspective will run head-on into Trump's wall, which demands an iron fist and immediate results from Mexico.

This Sunday, the Republican referred to Sheinbaum, whom he defined as a “lovely woman”. “I was very hard on Mexico. I spoke to the new president, a woman who was charming and wonderful, President Sheinbaum, a wonderful woman. But I told her, 'You can't do this to our country,” Trump declared, referring to fentanyl coming in through the southern border. Much of Sheinbaum's six-year term will be marked by the pulse of the bilateral relationship with the US. The challenge will test the negotiating skills of the Mexican president, who has already shown much firmness before the Republican.

SOURCE: ELPAIS

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Trump Vows To Declare Mexican Drug Cartels Terrorists

 "Char" for Borderland Beat 

This information was posted by YAHOO

Alexandra Ulmer - Reuters

US President-elect Donald Trump says he will launch a new anti-drug advertising campaign emphasising the physical impact of taking drugs like fentanyl and has repeated a threat to designate Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organisations.

"We're going to advertise how bad drugs are for you. They ruin your look, they ruin your face, they ruin your skin, they ruin your teeth," Trump said at a conference of the conservative group Turning Point in Phoenix, Arizona on Sunday.

Trump gave few concrete details about the ad campaign, which he does not appear to have mentioned before and that he likened to running a political campaign. He said his administration would spend "a lot of money" on the program but that it would be a "very small amount of money, relatively".

The Trump transition team did not respond to a request for further information.

Trump's plan has echoes of the "Just Say No" anti-drug campaign, led by Republican former first lady Nancy Reagan in the 1980s to encourage young Americans to refuse drugs.

Between 50,000 and 60,000 Americans are projected to die from synthetic opioid overdoses this year, most from taking fentanyl or closely related drugs.

The fentanyl crisis featured heavily in Trump's 2024 presidential campaign, even though synthetic opioid deaths more than doubled under his 2017-2021 administration.

Trump also revived a campaign vow to designate Mexico's drug cartels as terrorist groups.

"I will immediately designate the cartels as foreign terrorist organisations," Trump said.

While in office in 2019, Trump shelved such a plan at the request of Mexico's then-President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who said he wanted US co-operation on fighting drug gangs, not intervention.

Some US officials had also privately expressed misgivings that the measure could damage relations with Mexico and hinder the Mexican government's fight against drug trafficking.

Trump's official election platform says that when he takes office he will order the Pentagon to use "special forces, cyber warfare, and other covert and overt actions to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure, and operations"

SOURCE:YAHOO

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Ken Salazar Admits U.S. Is “Part Of The Problem” Of Drug Use And Arms Trafficking

 "Char" for Borderland Beat 

This information was posted from PROCESO 

Leaving behind the scolding tone of last November 13, to which the Mexican government responded through a diplomatic note, Salazar echoed the letter that President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo sent to President-elect Donald Trump in response to his threat to impose tariffs.

WRITTEN BY: MATHIEU TOURLINE

MEXICO CITY (apro).- After the outspoken complaint regarding Mexico's security policy that he expressed two weeks ago, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, acknowledged today that drug consumption and arms trafficking from his country are “part of the problem”, which is why the governments on both sides of the border must address it “as partners”.

Leaving behind the scolding tone of last November 13, to which the Mexican government responded through a diplomatic note, Salazar echoed the letter that President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo sent to President-elect Donald Trump in response to his threat to impose tariffs when he takes office on January 20; the diplomat also qualified his criticism of the security strategy, stating that he said them “with great hope” that “the program that President Sheinbaum is developing” will work.

In a press conference held at the residence of the US Embassy, Salazar insisted on his agreement with the governments of Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo and her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, on migration issues, and emphasized that his government --that of Joe Biden-- continues to be committed to North America as a free trade zone.

Salazar repeated that Joe Biden's administration is “aligned” with the plans to invest in development projects in the South and Southeast of Mexico -he explicitly referred to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec-, as well as in the regions of origin of migrants, to address the roots of migration, and celebrated that he worked “very closely” with López Obrador on migration issues.

The diplomat, who stated two weeks ago that the strategy of “hugs not bullets” had failed, boasted that thanks to the joint work of both governments, the number of irregular migrant crossings between both countries fell by 65% to 75%.

SOURCE: PROCESO 

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'The Dead By Crime To Meet The Demand For Drugs In The U.S., We Put Them': Sheinbaum To Trump

 "Char" for Borderland Beat 

This information was posted from LOS NOTICIERISTAS

WRITTEN BY: TERY PEREZ 

11/26/2024

Mexico City - To kick off the 'morning' conference this Tuesday, November 26, Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo read a letter to be sent this day to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in response to his announcement to impose tariffs.

“I am writing to you, following your statement on Monday, November 25, on migration, fentanyl trafficking and tariffs,” the letter begins.

The federal president informs you 'in case you are not aware' that the Mexican government is developing a comprehensive policy of attention to migrants, and thanks to this, the migratory flow has been reduced by 75 percent between December 2023 and November 2024, according to CBP (U.S. Customs and Border Patrol) figures.

“By the way, half of those who arrive, it is through an appointment legally granted by the U.S. program called CBP One. For these reasons, caravans of migrants no longer arrive at the border. Even so, it is clear that we must arrive together at another model of labor mobility that is necessary for your country and of attention to the causes that lead families to leave their places of origin out of necessity,” reads the letter.

Sheinbaum proposes that if a percentage of what the United States allocates to wars were directed to peace building and development, “the mobility of people” would be addressed.

“On the other hand, and for humanitarian reasons, we have always expressed Mexico's willingness to prevent the fentanyl epidemic from continuing in the United States, which is a problem of consumption and public health in your country's society,” she said.

The president informed Trump that in this year 2024, the Armed Forces of our country, as well as the Prosecutor's Offices, have seized tons of various narcotics, 10,340 weapons and have arrested 15,640 people linked to violence related to drug trafficking.

He also explains that a constitutional reform is in the legislative process to qualify as a serious crime, without the right to bail, the elaboration, distribution and commercialization of fentanyl, among other synthetic drugs.

“However, it is publicly known that chemical precursors for the manufacture of this and other synthetic drugs enter Canada, the United States and Mexico illegally from Asian countries, for which international collaboration is urgently needed”, she clarified.

The chief executive reminded Trump that most of the illegal weapons entering Mexico come from the United States.

“Seventy percent of the illegal weapons seized from criminals in Mexico come from your country. We do not produce the weapons, we do not produce the synthetic drugs, we do not consume them. Those killed by crime to respond to the demand for drugs in your country, unfortunately we put them,” She sentences.

“President Trump, it is not with threats or tariffs that the migratory phenomenon or drug consumption in the United States will be addressed,” She emphasizes.

She considers 'cooperation and reciprocal understanding' necessary to face these challenges.

“One tariff will be followed by another in response, and so on, until we put common enterprises at risk. Yes, common. For example, Mexico's main exporters to the United States are General Motors, Stellantis and Ford Motors Company, which came to Mexico 80 years ago. Why put them at risk with a tax? It is not acceptable and would cause the United States and Mexico inflation and job losses,” She said.

Sheinbaum Pardo said she was convinced that the strength of North America, is the maintenance of the commercial partnership, to remain competitive compared to other economic blocs.

“I believe that dialogue is the best way for understanding, peace and prosperity in our nations, I hope our teams can meet soon,” the letter states.

SHEIMBAUM MORNING PRESS CONFERENCE 

SOURCE: LOS NOTICIERISTAS 

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