President Sheinbaum Instructs Foreign Ministry to Contact Rubio After Trump’s Comments on Attacking Mexico

ByAlonso Urrutia

This article by Alonso Urrutia originally appeared in the January 9, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Acapulco, Guerrero. In response to President Donald Trump’s new stance on combating the cartels, Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum stated that while there are bilateral agreements regulating security cooperation, she has instructed Foreign Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente to contact Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Although President Sheinbaum said that there are ways to communicate with the White House Chief, she said that if necessary she could speak by phone with Trump to strengthen the mechanisms of collaboration on security matters between Mexico and the United States.

A September press conference between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Mexico’s Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente involved an arrogant Rubio contradicting the Foreign Minister, and was followed shortly after by illegal airstrikes off the coast of Mexico.

Regarding the potential presence of U.S. military vessels, as occurred in Venezuela prior to the intervention, he stated that there is an understanding between the Coast Guard and Northern Command with the Mexican Navy to collaborate in the seizure of these vessels in Mexican territorial waters. According to this agreed-upon mechanism, if any suspicious vessels are detected, the Coast Guard would notify the Mexican Navy so that it could deploy operations to seize them.

In a conference held at this port, she said: “We do not want to think about another scenario, but rather about closer coordination within the framework of defending sovereignty.”

On the other hand, she mentioned that in her conversation with the President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, he invited her to visit Brazil in May, a proposal she will consider. They discussed strengthening economic ties following the visit of Brazilian businesspeople to Mexico and talked about violence against women in both countries.