President Donald Trump declared drug cartels operating in the Caribbean as unlawful combatants. This action follows the Trump administration’s February designation of eight Latin American criminal and drug-trafficking groups as “global terrorist organizations.” These groups included Tren de Aragua in Venezuela, MS-13 in El Salvador, and six specific cartels based in Mexico. The administration justified these designations by citing the groups’ international connections, involvement in drug trafficking and migrant smuggling, and violent efforts to expand their territories.
In a related development, the US Justice Department is reportedly closing the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), an inter-agency office created in the 1980s to address major drug cartels. This reorganization also discontinues a previously reported plan to merge the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/world/trump-declares-caribbean-drug-cartels-unlawful-combatants-what-it-means-10284509/