‘TOTAL ELIMINATION’: Trump Administration Sanctions Cartel Leaders Amid Heated Senate Hearing

A high-stakes Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Tuesday reveals the Trump administration’s aggressive push to dismantle Latin American drug cartels through new sanctions and terror designations. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, defending the administration’s strategy, announces an expanded sanctions package targeting cartel leaders and affiliated financial networks. He says the campaign seeks “total elimination” of cartel influence in the Western Hemisphere.

Rubio outlines a sweeping initiative in which major criminal organizations—including the Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua—are officially designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. This gives the. . .