US President Donald Trump declared on January 24, 2026, that military attacks against drug cartels could be carried out anywhere, including Mexico, Central America, and South America, asserting that his administration knows precisely the routes, operations, and locations of the criminal organizations.
“We’re going to attack the cartels,” Trump declared in an exclusive interview with *The New York Post* from the Oval Office of the White House. When asked if such attacks could occur anywhere, including in Mexican, Venezuelan, or Colombian territory, the US president replied, “It could be anywhere.”
“We know their routes. We know everything about them. We know their homes. We know everything about them. We’re going to attack the cartels,” Trump emphasized during the interview published on January 24, 2026.
The US president’s statements represent an escalation in his administration’s rhetoric regarding the fight against drug trafficking in Latin America, confirming that military operations would not be limited to attacks in international waters of the Caribbean and the Pacific, but could extend to ground operations in countries of the region.
The US president had previously stated, in an interview broadcast on January 8, 2026, by Fox News, that his government would begin attacking drug cartels on the ground, maintaining that “the cartels are controlling Mexico.” “We’re going to start attacking the cartels on the ground now. The cartels are controlling Mexico,” Trump declared on that occasion.
“It’s very, very sad to see what has happened in that country. But the cartels are running it and they are killing 250,000 or 300,000 people in our country every year,” the US president added during the interview with Fox News.
