US President Donald Trump has reignited tensions across the Western Hemisphere by openly signaling that his administration could order military strikes against drug cartels operating on Mexican territory. The remarks, delivered during a televised interview and reinforced by recent US military actions in the Caribbean, have sparked concern among regional governments and renewed debate over sovereignty, security cooperation, and the expanding scope of Washington’s counter-narcotics strategy.

Trump’s comments came just days after US special forces carried out a high-profile raid in Caracas that resulted in the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The operation, which US officials justified by accusing Maduro of narcotics trafficking, marked a dramatic escalation in American interventionism in Latin America. Maduro has denied the allegations, while several regional governments condemned the raid as a dangerous precedent.

Speaking Thursday night on Fox News in an interview with Sean Hannity, Trump claimed that US maritime interdiction efforts had already crippled drug smuggling routes by sea. “We’ve knocked out 97% of the drugs coming in by water,” Trump said, before adding that the next phase would involve targeting cartel operations on land. “We are going to start now hitting land with regard to the cartels.”

Although Trump did not explicitly outline what “hitting land” would entail, his statement was widely interpreted as a threat of unilateral US military action inside Mexico. He further inflamed tensions by asserting that criminal organizations........

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