Rubio vows to ramp up cartel strikes

Secretary of State Marco Rubio vowed Wednesday the United States would ramp up strikes on cartels after blowing up an alleged drug boat off Venezuela, but assured Mexico of respect to its sovereignty.

In the highest-level meeting between the two neighbors since Donald Trump returned to the White House, Rubio met for an hour and a half in Mexico City with President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has sought cooperation in the complicated relationship with Washington.

The visit came a day after Trump said US forces blew up an alleged drug boat off the coast of Venezuela, whose leftist leader Nicolas Maduro is a nemesis of the United States.

Rubio pledged to ramp up the stakes for drug traffickers, saying that years of peaceful interdiction has not worked and not affected cartels' bottom line.

The United States "blew it up and it'll happen again. Maybe it's happening right now," Rubio told a news conference.

"These are not stockbrokers. These are not real estate agents who on the side deal with drugs."

"If you're on a boat full of cocaine or fentanyl, whatever, headed to the United States, you're an immediate threat to the United States," he said.

But Rubio made clear that he did not have similar qualms about Mexico and hailed the efforts by Sheinbaum.

"It is the closest security cooperation we have ever had maybe with any country but certainly in the history of US-Mexico relations," he said.

In a joint statement, the two countries said they "reaffirm our security cooperation, which is based on the principles of reciprocity, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, shared and differentiated responsibility, as well as mutual trust."