Jan 5 (Reuters) – Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Monday reiterated Mexico’s opposition to Washington’s extradition of Venezuela’s president and to any kind of intervention in Mexico.
“We categorically reject intervention in the internal matters of other countries,” Sheinbaum said, echoing statements made Saturday after U.S. forces staged an attack on Venezuela and captured President Nicolas Maduro.
The Mexican leader added that Mexico is a sovereign country and is cooperating with the U.S. on drug trafficking and security, after her U.S. counterpart Donald Trump over the weekend hinted at military action in Mexico to combat drug cartels.
“It is necessary to reaffirm that in Mexico the people rule, and that we are a free and sovereign country—cooperation, yes; subordination and intervention, no,” Sheinbaum said.
Sheinbaum’s comments, which she read at the start of her daily press conference, are in line with her government’s position since taking office in 2024 as well as the Mexican constitution, which states non-intervention as a guiding principle of the country’s foreign policy.
Trump has long suggested military action might be necessary to combat drug cartels operating in Mexico, and over the weekend told reporters that the U.S. would “have to do something” in Mexico about drugs.
Answering journalists’ questions, Sheinbaum on Monday said she did not see a hypothetical U.S. intervention in Mexico as likely even though, she said, Trump has insisted on it during calls between the two leaders.
“I don’t believe in an invasion; I don’t even think it’s something they’re taking very seriously,” Sheinbaum said. “On several occasions, he has insisted that the U.S. Army be allowed to enter Mexico. We have said no very firmly — first because we defend our sovereignty, and second because it is not necessary.”
Shortly after returning to the presidency last year, Trump’s government designated Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and other drug gangs as terrorist organizations, reviving a plan he had shelved in 2019 at the request of Mexico’s then-President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
In August, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration could use the military to go after cartels.
(Reporting by Brendan O’Boyle; Editing by Emily Green)
