White House officials highlighted on Tuesday at a press conference the military strategy implemented by President Donald Trump to combat the drug cartels operating in the Western Hemisphere.
"The president ordered, and the Department of War executed, the first plan and strategy in history to use direct military force to defend the homeland from this threat," one of the officials stated in remarks reported by Fox News. "The effects have been spectacular, and we have seen the largest and most pronounced reduction in American casualties inflicted by the cartels in the history of the United States," he added.
For this official, Trump's strategy "has created the political space —because we are now taking the fight to the cartels— for new governments to be elected that will partner directly with us to wage this battle," pointing to the governments of Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Honduras, Costa Rica, and El Salvador as Washington's allies in this fight.
In the same conference, another official emphasized that "the U.S. Southern Command's anti-narcotics operations have driven record reductions in illicit maritime activity," which "includes a 65% reduction in the Western Caribbean", a 60% drop in the Eastern Caribbean, as well as "a decrease of nearly 50%" in key regions of the Eastern Pacific."
With Trump as commander-in-chief, the U.S. armed forces have carried out dozens of lethal strikes against vessels transporting drugs by sea, primarily in the Southern Hemisphere. The aforementioned official stated that these actions have produced "a significant deterrent impact on bad actors around the world" by demonstrating the "nation's willingness to use lethal force to protect our fundamental interests."
Trump's War on Drug Trafficking: The White House Celebrated a Historic Drop in Victims of Drug Cartels
