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Mexican Pres. Rejects Trump Aid Offer 11/19 06:13
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexico's president on Tuesday ruled out allowing U.S.
strikes against cartels on Mexican soil, a day after U.S. President Donald
Trump said he was willing to do whatever it takes to stop drugs entering the
U.S.
"It's not going to happen," President Claudia Sheinbaum said.
"He (Trump) has suggested it on various occasions or he has said, 'we offer
you a United States military intervention in Mexico, whatever you need to fight
the criminal groups,'" she said. "But I have told him on every occasion that we
can collaborate, that they can help us with information they have, but that we
operate in our territory, that we do not accept any intervention by a foreign
government."
Sheinbaum said she had said this to Trump and to U.S. Secretary of State
Marco Rubio on previous occasions and that they have understood.
"Would I want strikes in Mexico to stop drugs? OK with me, whatever we have
to do to stop drugs," Trump said Monday, adding that he's "not happy with
Mexico."
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico shared a video on X later Monday that included
previous comments from Rubio saying that the U.S. would not take unilateral
action in Mexico.
Meanwhile, Mexican and U.S. diplomats were trying to sort out Tuesday what
may have been an actual U.S. incursion.
On Monday, men arrived in a boat at a beach in northeast Mexico and
installed some signs signaling land that the U.S. Department of Defense
considered restricted.
Mexico's Foreign Affairs Ministry said late Monday that the country's navy
had removed the signs, which appeared to be on Mexican territory. And on
Tuesday, Sheinbaum said that the International Boundary and Water Commission, a
binational agency that determines the border between the two countries, was
getting involved.
The signs, driven into the sand near where the Rio Grande empties into the
Gulf of Mexico, caused a stir when witnesses said men in a boat arrived at the
local beach known as Playa Bagdad and erected them.
The signs read in English and Spanish, "Warning: Restricted Area" and went
on to explain that it was Department of Defense property and had been declared
restricted by "the commander." It said there could be no unauthorized access,
photography or drawings of the area.
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico shared a comment from the Pentagon Tuesday about
the incident, confirming that contractors putting up signs to mark the
"National Defense Area III" had placed signs at the mouth of the Rio Grande.
"Changes in water depth and topography altered the perception of the
international boundary's location," the statement said. "Government of Mexico
personnel removed 6 signs based on their perception of the international
boundary's location."
The Pentagon said the contractors would "coordinate with appropriate
agencies to avoid confusion in the future."
Mexico had contacted its consulate in Brownsville, Texas and then the U.S.
Embassy in Mexico City. Eventually, it was determined that contractors working
for some U.S. government entity had placed the signs, Sheinbaum said.
"But the river changes its course, it breaks loose and according to the
treaty you have to clearly demarcate the national border," Sheinbaum said
during her daily press briefing.
The area is close to SpaceX Starbase, which sits adjacent to Boca Chica
Beach on the Texas side of the Rio Grande.
The facility and launch site for the SpaceX rocket program is under contract
with the Department of Defense and NASA, which hopes to send astronauts back to
the moon and someday to Mars.
In June, Sheinbaum said the government was looking into contamination from
the SpaceX facility after pieces of metal, plastic and rocket pieces were
reportedly found on the Mexican side of the border following the explosion of a
rocket during a test.
The area also carries the added sensitivity of Trump's order to rename the
Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, which Mexico has also rejected.
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