Claudia Sheinbaum responded to Donald Trump’s description of Mexico as the “epicenter of violence” by calling on the US government to step up its efforts to combat arms trafficking.
“There is something in which the United States can help us a lot: stopping the trafficking of illegal weapons from the United States to Mexico,” said the president of Mexico. “If they stopped the entry of illegal weapons from the United States into Mexico, then these groups would not have access to this type of high-powered weapons to carry out their criminal activities.”
Sheinbaum pointed out that 75% of the weapons used by cartels come from the United States. Mexico has repeatedly called on the U.S. government to stop arms trafficking and in 2021 sued several U.S. gun manufacturers, accusing them of “negligent marketing, distribution and sales,” although the lawsuit was dismissed by the U.S. Supreme Court last year.
Sheinbaum’s comments responded to a speech given by Trump during a meeting of Latin American leaders at his Miami-area golf club on Saturday to establish what he called an “anti-cartel coalition.”
“The epicenter of cartel violence is Mexico,” Trump said during his Shield of the Americas summit with Latin American leaders on Saturday. “Mexican cartels are fueling and orchestrating much of the bloodshed and chaos in this hemisphere and the United States government will do whatever it takes to defend our national security.”
Trump also called Sheinbaum a “beautiful woman” with a “beautiful voice” and said he had asked her to let him “eradicate the cartels” to which Trump said Sheinbaum responded “No, no, no, please, president.”
Trump has periodically threatened to invade Mexico to combat drug trafficking groups, threats that Sheinbaum has repeatedly rejected.
“It’s good that President Trump says publicly that when he proposed that the United States military enter Mexico, we said no,” he said Monday. “Because it’s the truth.”
Viri Ríos, a Mexican political analyst, called Trump’s comments “sexist” and urged Mexicans to reject the US president’s claim that Mexico was the source of the cartel conflict.
“The epicenter of cartel violence is not Mexico, it is the United States,” he said during an interview with W Radio. “The cartels are fueled by US drug demand and armed with US weapons, and thanks to the US, they are able to orchestrate enormous bloodshed and chaos throughout Latin America.”
