Mexico confiscated 18.7 tonnes of illegal drugs in February

Mexican authorities confiscated 18,690 kilograms (18.7 tonnes) of amerciable drugs — including astir 56 kg of fentanyl — and arrested much than 1,000 suspected cause traffickers astatine its shared borderline with the United States since launching Operación Frontera Norte (Operation Northern Border) connected Feb. 5.

Still, this was not capable to forestall U.S. President Donald Trump from enacting 25% tariffs connected Mexican goods owed to insufficient actions by the Mexican authorities to halt the travel of fentanyl to the U.S.

Sheinbaum and members of her information furniture rapidly launched an assertive strategy to trim amerciable cause trafficking from Mexico crossed the U.S. borderline called Operación Frontera Norte (Operation Northern Border, successful English) connected Feb. 5. (@OHarfuch/X)

The tariffs were primitively scheduled to spell into effect connected Feb. 3, but Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum negotiated a one-month pause during which clip Mexico was asked to measurement up its combat against fentanyl trafficking and halt amerciable immigration.

Two days later, connected Feb. 5, Sheinbaum and members of her information furniture rapidly launched a new, much assertive strategy that featured Operación Frontera Norte (Operation Northern Border, successful English). The president besides took the antithetic measurement of transferring 29 apical cause lords to look proceedings successful the U.S.

Mexico besides confiscated much than 1,000 amerciable weapons and seized 892 vehicles successful the archetypal 26 days of the operation.

Despite this, U.S. officials importune much could person been done.

En una operación encabezada por @SEDENAmx junto al Gabinete de Seguridad @SEMAR_mx , @FGRMexico, @GN_MEXICO_ ,@SSPCMexico en Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, detuvieron a Ricardo “N”, líder de un grupo generador de violencia que opera en Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, y Coahuila; se le… pic.twitter.com/RK8qiCJuHd

— Omar H Garcia Harfuch (@OHarfuch) February 3, 2025

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick conceded during an interrogation connected CNBC Tuesday greeting that Mexico “has done a bully occupation connected the border, but they haven’t stopped the travel of fentanyl.”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) information indicates that 449 kg of fentanyl were confiscated astatine the U.S.-Mexico borderline successful January, 8 times the magnitude confiscated by Operación Frontera Norte successful February. 

CBP information besides shows that a monthly mean of 753 kg of amerciable opiates person been confiscated astatine the borderline since October 2023.

Lutnick tried to rotation the U.S. argumentation arsenic “a cause war, not a commercialized war.”

Since the U.S. had not seen a “statistically applicable reduction” of deaths related to fentanyl, Lutnick said, the tariffs were applied. He did adhd that if Mexico tin beryllium to Trump that they tin halt the travel of fentanyl, “then of people the president tin region these tariffs.”

Sheinbaum said she expects to speech to Trump astir the tariffs connected Thursday, and announced that she volition provide details of her government’s effect to the tariffs connected Sunday during a nationalist assembly successful Mexico City’s iconic Zócalo. 

With reports from Expansión, Milenio, Reuters and The Hill