drug cartels

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military says the death toll from strikes on alleged drug boats is up to 126 people, with the inclusion of those presumed dead after being lost at sea. The military said 116 people were killed immediately in at least 36 attacks carried out since early September. Ten others are believed dead because searchers didn't locate them.

Mexico's security minister says the country has sent 37 more cartel members to the United States. The announcement came Tuesday as the U.S. increases pressure on governments to tackle drug smuggling networks. This marks the third time in the past year that Mexico has transferred detained cartel members to the U.S. Harfuch noted that the government has sent a total of 92 people so far.

Mexico’s president on Tuesday ruled out allowing U.S. strikes against cartels on Mexican soil, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said he was willing to do whatever it takes to stop drugs entering the U.S.

Fans have been flocking to soccer matches in Jalisco, Mexico, as authorities fine-tune security for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Meanwhile, volunteers in one of Mexico's most violent states continue to search for some of the country's 134,000 disappeared.

As President Donald Trump has blown up one boat after another off Venezuela’s coast and declared an “armed conflict” against drug cartels, a question with stark consequences has arisen much closer to the United States.

President Donald Trump says the U.S. has carried out a strike in the southern Caribbean against a drug-carrying vessel that departed from Venezuela. The president offered scant details on the operation. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday on X that the vessel was being operated by a “designated narco-terrorist organization."

The Republican Florida senator's remarks were made during a visit Wednesday to Doral to highlight recent legislative victories and ongoing efforts nationally and statewide to combat the country’s fentanyl crisis.

The news release from the Drug Enforcement Administration trumpeted a “bold bilateral initiative” with the Mexican government to crack down on cartels that smuggle drugs across the southern border. But Tuesday morning, a day after the DEA’s announcement, President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico said she had no idea what U.S. officials were talking about.

The United States is deploying three guided-missile destroyers to the waters off Venezuela as part of President Donald Trump’s effort to combat threats from Latin American drug cartels. That's according to a U.S. official briefed on the planning.

Just a decade ago, the era of U.S. wars, coup plots and military interventions in Latin America seemed to be ebbing when the Obama administration declared that the Monroe Doctrine, which long asserted U.S. military supremacy in the Americas, was dead.

The president has ordered the Pentagon to use the armed forces to carry out what in the past was considered law enforcement.

The move against a half-dozen organizations followed an executive order from President Trump that said the United States would ensure their “total elimination.”