The Mexican and US governments denied on Wednesday a report that US President Donald Trump told Mexico’s leader that he may deploy US troops to deal with drug cartels because Mexican soldiers are doing a bad job. Mexican journalist Dolia Estevez, citing “confidential” US and Mexican sources, said Trump made the threat during an hour-long phone call with President Enrique Pena Nieto on Friday. Trump told Pena Nieto that “maybe” he should send US troops to defeat the cartels because “Mexican soldiers are not doing their job well,” according to the report published by the website proyectopuente.com.mx.
But Mexican and White House officials vehemently denied the report. The White House also denied to AFP that Trump threatened to send troops to Mexico. If confirmed, the report would contradict the tone of the conversation that was reported in near identical statements issued by the two governments last Friday. The statements both described the phone call as “constructive and productive,” while Trump told a news conference that it was “very friendly.” The phone call came as bilateral relations plunged into the biggest diplomatic crisis between the two neighbors in decades.
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