President Trump on Tuesday offered U.S. assistance as he called on Mexico to “wage war” against the country's murderous drug cartel “monsters” in response to the brutal killing of multiple Americans a day earlier.
“If Mexico needs or requests help in cleaning out these monsters, the United States stands ready, willing & able to get involved and do the job quickly and effectively,” Trump tweeted. “The great new President of Mexico has made this a big issue, but the cartels have become so large and powerful that you sometimes need an army to defeat an army!”
Officials say at least six children and three women, apparently all U.S. citizens living in a community of Americans in Mexico, were gunned down after their convoy came under fire during a daylight ambush Monday. Six children were found alive, five of whom have been taken to hospital in Phoenix, Arizona. One child is currently missing, and authorities are searching the mountainous area on the Sonora-Chihuahua border for the child.
Those attacked were members of the LeBaron family, a well-known American clan who has lived in the community in the northern part of the country for decades, according to The New York Times. The attack targeted citizens who live in a community founded as part of an offshoot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"This is the time for Mexico, with the help of the United States, to wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth," Trump tweeted. "We merely await a call from your great new president!"
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador refused that approach, however, saying at a Tuesday news conference, "The worst thing you can have is war."
"We declared war, and it didn't work," Lopez Obrador said, referring to the policies of previous administrations. "That is not an option."
Trump has repeatedly raised concerns about levels of gang violence and drug-related crime in Mexico, particularly as it relates to securing the U.S.-Mexico border. The two countries have stepped up cooperation on that front over the summer, with asylum seekers being returned to Mexico to await hearings, while Mexico has also increased its troop presence on both its northern and southern borders.
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Trump calls for 'war' against Mexican drug cartel 'monsters' after Americans murdered
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