Heavy-handed threats and headline-grabbing moves: The ‘Trump Show’ reaches the war on drugs
The Republican’s return to the White House heralds a new hunt for narco bosses, the designation of cartels as terrorist groups and exaggerated speeches promising the end of fentanyl trafficking and organized crime
The United States will have a new president on January 20, but the impact of Donald Trump’s return is already beginning to be felt on both sides of the border. From the permanent pressure on the Mexican government to the promise of designating the drug cartels as terrorist groups and ending fentanyl trafficking, the Republican’s return to the White House anticipates a new chapter in the war on drugs, marked by tough talk, an obsession with linking immigration to the rise of organized crime, and the continuation of Washington’s crusade against the big drug bosses. “What he wants to project is not numbers or data, but the show: the spectacle of headline-grabbing blows against criminals, operations, statements against Mexican authorities,” says the foreign affairs expert Mauricio Meschoulam. “He is projecting that he will do everything in his power and that he will go to any lengths to get what he wants, and it is a threat that Mexico has to take very seriously,” adds this academic from the Universidad Iberoamericana.
