President of Mexico Changing Constitution to Protect Cartels from U.S. Military Strikes

The complicated intertwining of the Mexican Government with the very cartels it purports to be at war with is starting to become more evident.

With two proposals, Mexico’s President is preparing to alter the country’s constitution in order to give protections to the cartels from anticipated strikes by the U.S. military.

The move is being shrouded in the politically charged language of “sovereignty” for the Mexican public — a move President Claudio Sheinbaum knows will galvanize much of Mexico against any U.S. incursion seen to diminish the nationhood or status of Mexico.

But essentially, President Sheinbaum is playing a dangerous cat and mouse game in which she and the Mexican federal government plays the mouse, with the cartels and the U.S. military as fighting cats — both of which demand allegiance from the mouse.

The Mexican president wants to shield the terrorist drug cartels from being brought to justice. There is no doubt that she is now part of the problem and must be dealt with accordingly.https://t.co/EXBFWNoxwv

— John Moore (@Moore4Nevada) February 20, 2025

The threat to designate cartels as foreign terrorist organizations has long been a sticking point between U.S. administrations and the Mexican federal government.

Mexican President Sheinbaum, indicating a concern that the U.S. military would possibly cross the border in their targeting of Mexican cartels, is pushing the constitutional reforms as a means of strengthening Mexican sovereignty.

The likelihood that President Trump is planning direct military interventions into Mexico is something the Mexican people will not accept, according to a Fox News story quoting Sheinbaum:

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Thursday that she will propose constitutional reforms aimed at protecting the country’s sovereignty over concerns the U.S. military could cross the border to pursue Mexican drug cartels.

Sheinbaum made the remarks after the Trump administration designated six Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, stoking fears that President Donald Trump may be setting up the possibility for U.S. military action inside Mexico.

“The Mexican people will not accept under any circumstances interventions, interference or any other act from abroad that could be harmful to the integrity, independence and sovereignty of the nation,” Sheinbaum said.

The Mexican cartels on the Trump administration’s list include the Sinaloa, Jalisco, Zetas, the Gulf Cartels, Cartel Unidos and “La Nueva Familia Michoacana.” Other groups include the international Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and the Salvadoran gang Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13.

Mexico, which has long rejected such a move by the U.S. to designate cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, was not consulted about the decision, Sheinbaum said.

In an address to the nation, President Sheinbaum emphasized that the U.S. designation of the cartels as terror organizations will not cause the Mexicans to “negotiate sovereignty”.

Check out the short clip of the Mexican President addressing Mexico:

Meanwhile, the U.S. is increasing drone flights for surveillance purposes over Mexico.

In answering a reporter’s question, President Trump recently stated that the cartels are largely in control of Mexico.

According to former ICE agent Victor Avila, the cartels have been running a “parallel government” for years, and this designation will change everything about this issue.

Here’s the Fox News segment with President Trump’s remarks, and the former ICE agent’s commentary about the situation:

On Thursday, President Trump officially designated eight different Latin America-based cartels as foreign terror groups.

And though President Sheinbaum said during her press beiefing that Mexico wouldn’t allow the outside involvement or prosecutions without authorizations from the Mexican government…

She also stated during a press conference a few days ago that the drone and other surveillance flights over Mexican territory has been at the request of her government — not a unilateral action taken by the United States.

Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum says her government requested U.S. surveillance drone flightshttps://t.co/4xdPYeBvid pic.twitter.com/2h1uXw3OUs

— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) February 20, 2025

The constitutional reforms that President Sheinbaum is proposing would increase the penalties for those cooperating with outside entities for purposes that she says would challenge the national sovereignty of Mexico, according to an Associated Press story:

Sheinbaum said during her daily press briefing Thursday that Mexico also wouldn’t allow outside involvement in investigations or prosecutions without authorization and collaboration of the Mexican government.

Former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Sheinbaum’s predecessor, had already written into Mexican law limits to how foreign agents could operate in Mexico, limiting their independence and requiring that Mexican authorities be informed of their movements. Sheinbaum proposes enshrining those limits in the constitution.

“What we want to make clear in the face of this designation is that we do not negotiate sovereignty,” Sheinbaum said. “This cannot be an opportunity for the United States to invade our sovereignty.”

Her administration also proposed reforming the constitution to apply the most severe penalties available under law to foreigners involved in the building, smuggling and distribution of guns. Mexico has long demanded that the U.S. do more to prevent the flood of guns into Mexico from U.S. gun shops and manufacturers.

In the meantime, President Trump’s Border Czar went on with Jessie Watters and made it clear — the official position of President Trump is that the cartels are going to be wiped off the face of the earth.

He touted a tripling of Coast Guard patrols around the U.S. for interdiction operations.

He also stated that the plan is not to simply attack cartels in Mexico — it is to attack all the named cartels in every country they are operating in.

The phrase Homan used was “worldwide”, in terms of the battlespace being prepared.

Check out that clip here, shared by Benny Johnson on X:

Tom Homan is going BEAST MODE:

"President Trump will wipe them off the face of the earth."

"We're not just going to attack in Mexico, the Jalisco cartel. We're going to attack them in the 43 countries they have operations. We are attacking worldwide."
pic.twitter.com/x51rOklqn6

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) February 22, 2025

With the U.S. Secretary of Defense stating unequivocally that “all options are on the table”, the move by the Mexican President to alter the constitution does not seem likely to stop what is in the works for the cartels.

I don’t see President Trump backing down.

And though the Mexican government might muster their verbal forces to create a political pushback against the U.S. — and potentially insulate themselves to some degree from cartel wrath…

I don’t suspect that the course set by President Trump is going to change.

He has clearly established the complete destruction of cartels as a primary goal of his administration, and I don’t think he’s going to let up until that job is done.