CIA Escalates Role in Failed Mexican Drug War Under Donald Trump
March 10, 2025 | Source: CovertAction Magazine | by Jeremy Kuzmarov
Donald Trump has found a new mission for the CIA—ramping up secret drone flights over Mexico to track and hunt down leaders of Mexico’s drug cartels.
The New York Times reported in mid-February that the CIA’s covert drone program over Mexico, first initiated by the Biden administration, has proved useful in helping the Mexican government to locate fentanyl labs, which emit chemicals that make them easy to find from the air.
During the 2024 election, Trump called for the death penalty for drug dealers. Then on January 20, he signed an executive order calling for a major crackdown on Mexico’s cartels, which have been designated as a foreign terrorist organization—a label that sets the groundwork for potential U.S. military operations directed against them.[1]
On February 28, the Trump administration secured the extradition of 30 prominent Mexican cartel leaders, including Rafael Cara Quintero, a founding member of the Sinaloa drug cartel who was convicted in Mexico of masterminding the 1985 assassination of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena.[2]