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Secretary of State Marco Rubio says there could be more U.S. strikes on suspected drug traffickers. He made the warning in Mexico before he traveled on to Ecuador. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports that fighting the drug trade and illegal migration are key topics during the trip.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: The U.S. military strike on a boat from Venezuela was meant to be a message to cartels in the region. That's how Secretary Rubio described it as he stood alongside his Mexican counterpart at a news conference in the capital.
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MARCO RUBIO: If you're on a boat full of cocaine or fentanyl or whatever headed to the United States, you're an immediate threat to the United States. And the president, under his authority as commander in chief, has a right under exigent circumstances to eliminate imminent threats to the United States.
KELEMEN: He says that's what Trump did on Tuesday, ordering a strike on a boat from Venezuela. Rubio says the U.S. will continue to hit groups that it considers narco-terrorists.
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RUBIO: We're not going to sit back anymore and watch these people sail up and down the Caribbean like a cruise ship. It's not going to happen anymore. They're not going to bring drugs into the United States. We're going to stop them.
KELEMEN: When it comes to Mexico, Rubio says the two countries have reached a level of historic cooperation on combating the drug trade and illegal migration. Mexican Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente echoed that, though he stressed that their cooperation is based on mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity. He used those terms many times during their joint press conference, especially when asked about the pressure the Trump administration is putting on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
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JUAN RAMON DE LA FUENTE: We believe in self-determination, nonintervention, peaceful solution of controversies. All countries are legally equal. We believe in cooperation for development and so on.
KELEMEN: De la Fuente was upbeat about Rubio's visit, though, and the meeting with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, calling it productive. The secretary is now in Ecuador, where the drug trade and immigration will top the agenda again. His aides say he's also looking for ways to help this country get out from under what they call a giant albatross - Ecuador's $2.5 billion debt to China.
Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Quito, Ecuador.
(SOUNDBITE OF BEASTIE BOYS' "RICKY'S THEME") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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