Trump designates violent Latin American gangs as global terror organizations

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump followed through on his promise to designate a number of violent cartel gangs as global terror organizations.

The official statement was made by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and named nine gangs and cartel organizations to be designated as terror groups.

Police described the scene as a ‘bloodbath’ and determined that the attackers had killed the teens because they had disrespected their gang on social media.

The list included the infamous Tren de Aragua gang, which has made headlines in the U.S. after numerous criminal acts have been attributed to the group. The gang reportedly took over an apartment building in Aurora, Colorado, and later a condemned hotel in El Paso, Texas.

Also included in the list is the Venezuelan gang Mara Salvatrucha, which is known as MS-13, which has been linked to gruesome murders in the U.S. In one instance from 2017, gang members brutally murdered four teenagers in the woods of Long Island, New York. Police described the scene as a “bloodbath” and determined that the attackers had killed the teens because they had disrespected their gang on social media.

Cartel de Sinaloa, Cartel de Jaliso Nueva Generacion, Cartels Unidos, Cartel de Noreste, Cartel del Golfo, and La Nueva Familia Michoacana rounded out the list of terror groups.

The order makes it unlawful for anyone in the U.S. to provide “material support” to the terror groups, which includes financial services, lodging, transportation, and identification.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum objected to the U.S. accusing the Mexican government of aiding the drug cartels and threatened to expand her lawsuit against U.S. gun manufacturers if Trump followed through on his terror designation threat.

“If they declare these criminal groups as terrorists, then we’ll have to expand our U.S. lawsuit,” Sheinbaum previously said.

“We categorically reject the slander made by the White House against the Mexican government about alliances with criminal organizations,” she added on social media. “If there is such an alliance anywhere, it is in the U.S. gun shops that sell high-powered weapons to these criminal groups.”

The escalation of tensions is likely to aggravate negotiations over tariffs that Trump threatened to place on Mexican imports. Sheinbaum warned that Mexico would likely respond with retaliatory tariffs that would raise prices and cost jobs in both countries.

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