Mexico City, Mexico - Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum slammed Secretary of State Marco Rubio for claiming that organized crime cartels control large amounts of her country's territory.
"I think it's part of the election campaign in the United States," Sheinbaum said during her daily press conference on Thursday. "They have an election in November."
"As we've said, they shouldn't use Mexico in their campaign. The United States has its [own] problems, so Mexico shouldn't be used as part of the election campaign in the United States," Sheinbaum continued in comments translated from Spanish.
"But I think that recently, they're wanting to use Mexico again and that's not right."
It was not the first time that she had called out the Trump administration for using Mexico as a cudgel in the GOP's midterm election campaign.
Last week, she accused the US of trying to weaken "independent governments that defend sovereignty" and attempt to "divide us internally."
"They are tactics of interference that they use," she'd said. "They think that by speaking well about one person and ill of others they're going to create divisions… But they fail."
This time, however, Sheinbaum's condemnation came in response to shocking comments made by Rubio during an international visit to Ecuador this week.
While addressing reporters in front of the US Embassy in Quito, Rubio claimed that huge amounts of Mexican territory is exclusively controlled by organized crime.
"There are vast territories in Mexico that are not governed by the state," he claimed. "The Mexicans have done more than they've ever done before to go after these groups, but it is still not nearly enough."
Rubio went on to say that it would be "ideal" for the US to take unilateral action within Mexican territory to combat the cartels, a proposal that has been repeatedly shot down by Sheinbaum's government.