Rubio vows to ramp up cartel strikes but praises Mexico

MEXICO - US Secretary of State Marco Rubio vowed on Sept 3 that the

US would ramp up strikes on cartels

after blowing up an alleged drug boat he linked to Venezuela, but he assured Mexico of respect for its sovereignty.

In the highest-level meeting between the two neighbours since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House, Mr Rubio met Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has calmly sought cooperation in the complicated relationship with Washington, for 1½ hours in Mexico City.

Mr Rubio was scheduled to meet leaders in Ecuador on Sept 4, led by right-wing ally Daniel Noboa.

The visit came a day after Mr Trump said US forces blew up an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean that he claimed belonged to a criminal organisation tied to Venezuela’s leftist President Nicolas Maduro, a nemesis of the US.

On Aug 27, Venezuela’s Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello accused the US of committing extrajudicial killings in the attack, saying the US “murdered 11 people without due process”.

The attack, whose details could not be independently verified by AFP, marks a dramatic escalation by the US, which has for decades relied on routine policing operations rather than deadly force to seize drugs.

Mr Rubio said the policy had failed as piecemeal seizures did not affect the bottom line of cartels.

The US “blew it up and it’ll happen again. Maybe it’s happening right now”, he told a news conference.

“These are not stockbrokers. These are not real estate agents who on the side deal a few drugs,” he said.

“If you’re on a boat full of cocaine or fentanyl, whatever, headed to the United States, you’re an immediate threat to the United States.”

He added: “We’re not going to sit back any more and watch these people sail down the Caribbean like a cruise ship.”

Respecting Mexican sovereignty

The attack has stirred jitters in Mexico, with some of Mr Trump’s allies in Congress having mused about military action against cartels south of the US border.

But Mr Rubio instead praised Mexico’s record, hailing the efforts by Ms Sheinbaum.

The two countries said they would set up a working group to carry out promises of further cooperation, both against cartels and on curbing migration.

“It is the closest security cooperation we have ever had, maybe with any country, but certainly in the history of US-Mexico relations,” Mr Rubio said.

The countries said in a joint statement that their cooperation was “based on the principles of reciprocity, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, shared and differentiated responsibility, as well as mutual trust”.

Ms Sheinbaum comes from the political left, but has sought a pragmatic relationship with Mr Trump. She has, however, called the US military “intervention” a red line.

Mexican Foreign Secretary Juan Ramon de la Fuente, asked about the strike on Sept 2, said Mexico believed in “self-determination, non-intervention and peaceful solution of controversies”.

Pressure on Venezuela

Mr Trump, fond of dramatic announcements and imagery, rose to political prominence with harsh comments on Mexicans and his vows to seal off the southern border with a wall.

But Venezuela is a unique case, as the US does not recognise the legitimacy of Mr Maduro, a leftist firebrand whose last election in 2024 was widely seen internationally and by the opposition as riddled with irregularities.

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado hailed what she called a tightening of the “siege imposed by Western democracies” on Mr Maduro’s “narco-terrorist cartel”.

“Venezuela is almost free,” Ms Machado said in a video. “Nothing can stop a people who have already decided to be free and live in democracy.”

An effort by Mr Trump in his first term to remove Mr Maduro from power failed, with Mr Maduro’s political movement, founded by the late former president Hugo Chavez, maintaining support from a network of partisans and the military – and Russia and China backing him.

Mr Rubio, a Cuban-American and vociferous critic of Latin American leftists, has pressed for a hard line on Venezuela, despite efforts in 2025 by Mr Trump’s globe-trotting envoy Richard Grenell to engage Mr Maduro.

Mr Maduro’s communications chief Alfred Nazareth said on social media that Mr Rubio “keeps lying”, and that a US government video showing a fiery attack on a boat and posted online was generated by artificial intelligence (AI).

AFP has found no evidence that the video was created by AI. AFP