Cnn
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The CIA under President Donald Trump secretly piloted the Drones MQ-9 Reaper on Mexico to spy on the drug cartels, current and former familiar officials with the issue told CNN, part of Trump’s dramatic reorientation national security assets on the South American border.
The missions, which have not been reported before, have intervened while the Trump administration moves to treat transnational drug cartels as terrorist organizations – a designation that it has not yet officially made.
MQ-9 drones used for missions are not currently armed. But they can be equipped with useful loads for making precision strikes. The United States regularly uses them to target suspicious terrorists in Syria, Iraq and Somalia.
Some current and former officials say that the designation of cartels as terrorist groups could potentially lay the foundations for the United States direct strikes against cartels and their drug laboratories in Mexico.
The CIA has already spoken of surveillance drones to chase the cartels inside Mexico before, according to an old and a current American official, as part of at least a small program that has teamed up with the Mexican authorities.
But the most recent flights were communicated to the Congress by the Trump administration using a particular notification reserved for new or updated secret programs that the CIA intends to hide or deny, a source familiar with the case said – suggesting that thefts represent a separate escalation. The notifications have made no mention of the Mexican partners, said the source.
The CIA refused to specifically comment on drone missions. But a spokesman said that “the fight against drug cartels in Mexico and at regional level is a priority for the CIA in the wider efforts of the Trump administration to end the serious threat of Narco -Trafficking. The director (John) Ratcliffe is determined to put the unique expertise of the CIA to work against this multiple facets challenge. »»
The revelation that the CIA is piloting drone missions on Mexico is involved in the middle of increased tensions between American and Mexican governments.
The Mexican government is already answering questions about the reasons why the US military spy planes have piloted missions near the border in recent weeks.
In response to CNN reports on the spectacular increase in military spy planes flying near Mexico, Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum and other senior Mexican officials have stressed in recent days the importance of sovereignty and that these flights of Espionage planes occur in international airspace and in American territory and on the American field.
Defense Minister Ricardo Trevilla said that he was not aware of these spy flights.
“We cannot exclude spying because we don’t know exactly what was done,” Trevilla said last week. “However, they did not violate national airspace.”
The CIA MQ-9 missions, however, are being theft in Mexican airspace. The Mexican government has not responded to requests for comments.
Friday, in response to a question on the increase in the United States overviews in international airspace, Sheinbaum said: “The important thing here, I think, in the declaration, what we have always proposed, C ‘ is that they share information with the government of Mexico. “”
As part of longtime bilateral agreements, the Drug Enforcement Administration and certain other law enforcement organizations also regularly steal aircraft in the Mexican airspace in cooperation with the Mexican government.
The CIA does not publicly recognize the existence of its drone program, although REAPER drones can sometimes be heard by the soil, certain sources noted.
CIA drone flights, combined with the expected designations of the cartel, underline how the Trump administration works to move a wide range of anti-terrorist authorities and resources to counter work along the American-Mexican border and interior of Mexico itself.
Planning this change started even before Trump takes up his duties. A 30 -page Trump transition planning document entitled “2025 Agency’s action plan”, examined by CNN, described the first priorities of the Trump administration for the intelligence community to “reprogram the resources (struggle against terrorism) ”.
“Treat the work of the counter-drug cartel as a form of fight against terrorism and use these authorities and unique resources appropriately, including by moving the resources of other regions if necessary,” directed the document.
Trump has already passed publicly to use military force against cartels, including during his first mandate as president.
In 2019, Trump said the United States was ready to “wage war” on groups, tweet that “the cartels have become so large and powerful that you sometimes need an army to defeat an army”. And while signing a decree of January 20 which asked journalists to designate foreign terrorist organizations, Trump was invited by journalists if he would send special operations forces in Mexico.
“Could happen,” said Trump. “Foreign things have happened.”
Trump’s national security advisor Mike Waltz has also recommended offensive measures against Mexican drug cartels. As a member of the Congress, in 2023, he co-introduced legislation creating an authorization for the use of military force against them.
In response to the decree of January 20, the State Department wrote a list of cartels which, she said, should be appointed foreign terrorist organizations, according to a familiar official with the issue. The formal designations have not yet been made.
Extremist Islamist groups constitute the vast majority of foreign terrorist organizations currently listed. These groups differ from cards in a key way.
Former officials and analysts say that, although they share certain operational similarities, cartels are essentially commercial, and non -ideological organizations; They are not interested in governing populations or seizing the territory; And in some cases, they are deeply linked to parties of the Mexican government, which the American army actively associates itself and supports counter-crat initiatives.
