President Trump Offers Military Help To Combat Drug Cartels After Nine U.S. Citizens Massacred In Mexico

Gunmen in Mexico ambushed three SUVs carrying U.S. citizens, killing three women and six children, leading President Trump to call for a war on Mexican drug cartels and ramping up pressure on Mexico’s leader to counter record levels of violence.

The victims, from a Mormon community in northwestern Mexico, were traveling between two family compounds to plan a wedding when they were attacked on Monday by gunmen in broad daylight less than 100 miles from the U.S. border, Mexican officials said.

The massacre was the worst single incident of violence involving U.S. citizens in Mexico since the country’s drug war began in earnest in 2006, when Mexico launched an all-out assault on cartels by deploying the army to take on the powerful gangs.

Even in a country accustomed to barbaric violence that has claimed more than 250,000 lives since then, the attack stood out, partly because the victims were U.S. citizens and women and children.

Among the dead were two eight-month old twins, family members said. Seven children survived the attack, including a 13-year old who, after his mother was killed, took the remaining children to hide in the woods and walked five hours to get help.

One of the cars was set on fire—either intentionally or due to gunfire—leaving the bones of victims for identification. One child’s remains were found outside a partly open car door, suggesting the child tried to escape. And a seven-month old was found alive in her car seat after apparently being placed on the floor by her mother before she was killed.

Officials aren’t yet sure why the convoy was targeted. Mexican security minister Alfonso Durazo said it may have been mistaken for members of one gang fighting another for control of the area’s drug trafficking routes.

President Trump and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico spoke on Tuesday about “efforts to combat the growing violent behavior of cartels and criminal groups in the region.” Mr. Trump said the U.S. was willing to help Mexico take on the drug cartels.

“This is the time for Mexico, with the help of the United States, to wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth,” Mr. Trump tweeted, adding that “the cartels have become so large and powerful that you sometimes need an army to defeat an army!”

Mr. López Obrador rejected the offer of military help. “I think we don’t need intervention,” he said.

Read the rest from the WSJ HERE.

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