Florida Governor Ron DeSantis expressed that if elected, he would launch military strikes on Mexican drug cartels during the Republican election debate last week. Three other candidates endorsed the idea, sparking concerns on both sides of the border as the race for the White House in 2024 intensifies within the party.

As the Republican race for the White House in 2024 ramps up, threats by the party’s presidential candidates to launch military strikes on Mexico’s drug cartels are being taken increasingly seriously, sparking worries on both sides of the border.

In the party’s election debate last week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a distant second in the polls to former president Donald Trump, said that, if elected, he would send US forces in to dismantle Mexican drug labs “on day one.”

Shortly after the debate, DeSantis doubled down: “When I talk about using the military to take on the drug cartels because they’re killing tens of thousands of our citizens, we have every right to do it.”

Three other candidates, Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley, and Tim Scott, have also endorsed the idea.

In March, Haley, a former US ambassador to the United Nations, said that the US should address Mexican traffickers as it does the Islamic State jihadist group.

Foreign policy experts warn that the calls must be taken seriously and comprise a dangerous threat to Washington’s always tenuous relationship with its crucial southern neighbor.

It is not a new idea. During Trump’s 2017-2021 presidency, he expressed interest in undertaking cross-border strikes against the cartels.

But aides reportedly talked him out of it, and it was never considered a real policy option.

Former Mexican Ambassador to the United States Arturo said that President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has curtailed cooperation with US authorities on the drug trade, illegal immigration, and other issues.

“We’re not going to allow any foreign government to intervene, much less the armed forces of a foreign government,” Lopez Obrador said.

The debate rhetoric was obviously “red meat” for voters, Sarukhan said.

Miroslava Salazar, with AFP