By Jesus Bustamante
CULIACAN, Mexico (Reuters) – In Sinaloa in northwestern Mexico, some residents say drug-fueled violence has gotten so bad that they would welcome U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal for the U.S. military to go after cartels.
Trump has said that he would consider some form of U.S. military action against the cartels and has called for the State Department to label them as “foreign terrorist organizations.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said Mexico is in close communication with the United States and that she does not think the Trump administration would take military action, which would be seen as a breach of sovereignty by many Mexicans.
But in Sinaloa, where an intra-cartel war has left hundreds dead in recent months, some residents are so fed up with the violence that they say they are open to Trump’s idea.
“People are coming out to demonstrate, twice in this last week, because things are getting out of control,” said Apolinar Garcia, one of the protesters at a march in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state, on Sunday. Demonstrators wearing white shirts waved signs, chanted “We want peace!” and burned effigies of local politicians.
Garcia said Mexico’s government should be negotiating with Trump on ways to collaborate and bring the violence to an end.
Irama Garcia, also protesting, said she would welcome help from the U.S., Europe, or any international body that could stop the bloodshed.
“We need someone to support us and resolve the situation,” she said.
The Mexican government has sent thousands of troops to Sinaloa in efforts to pacify the violence. High-profile arrests and large drug seizures have followed, but confronting the heavily armed cartels brings the risk of inflaming violence, as has happened in the past.
“To the people of Sinaloa: know that we are working on this every day,” Sheinbaum said earlier this week.
(Reporting by Jesus Bustamante, writing by Laura Gottesdiener; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
