Rubio, Sheinbaum Hail U.S.-Mexico Cooperation To Take On Cartels: 'Closest We've Ever Had'

Secretary of State Marco Rubio hailed the cooperation between the Trump administration and its Mexican counterpart to tackle organized crime groups.

In a press conference in Mexico City along counterpart Juan Ramon de la Fuente, officials noted that the two governments created a "high-level implementation group that will meet regularly" to address cartels .

"Our joint coordination and collaboration will allow us strengthen the border, reduce fentanyl trafficking, and move forward in terms of intelligence exchanges all through and within our respective legal frameworks," de la Fuente said.

Rubio, on his end, said cooperation between the countries is the "closest we have ever had... certainly in the history of U.S.-Mexico relations."

The meeting was marked by the U.S.'s attack against a Venezuelan vessel, with officials claiming that it was aimed at fighting drug-trafficking in the region.

Rubio addressed the attack during the press conference, saying that the U.S. has long "established intelligence that allow us to interdict and stop drug boats, and we did that. And it doesn't work."

"What will stop them is when you blow them up, when you get rid of them. So they were designated as what they are – they are narcoterrorist organizations. So the same information and the same intelligence mechanisms with maybe a higher focus was used to determine that a drug boat was headed towards, eventually, the United States, and instead of interdicting it, on the President's orders, he blew it up," Rubio said.

Ioan Grillo, a journalist specialized in cartels, has warned that the incident could be the prelude of one against criminal organizations in Mexico.

"The missile attack on the alleged "drug boat" in the Caribbean shows how the terrorist designation of cartels and gangs works now. The line has been crossed. This is how an attack on a Mexican cartel target could look like," Ioan Grillo said in a social media post this week.

Such a development would likely strain relations between the U.S. and Mexico, especially considering that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has repeatedly rejected the possibility.

Speaking at the Presidential Palace this week, Sheinbaum said such an action would not manage to fully eradicate criminal organizations in the country, adding that fighting them "is much more complex."