Mexico City, Mexico - Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Monday demanded that President Donald Trump's administration crack down on the flow of US guns into the hands of the cartels.

"The cartels are fueled by the United States' demand for drugs and armed with US weapons, and thanks to the United States, they are able to orchestrate enormous bloodshed and chaos," Sheinbaum said during her daily press conference on Monday in comments translated from Spanish.

"If the flow of illegal weapons from the United States into Mexico is stopped, these groups won't have access to the high-powered weapons they need to carry out their criminal activities," Sheinbaum declared.

Her comments cited a 2025 Department of Justice report which found that approximately three quarters of guns used by Mexico's organized crime networks originate from the US.

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Trump on Saturday criticized Sheinbaum's record during a meeting with leaders from across Latin America that notably didn't include the left-wing presidents of Mexico and Brazil.

He told the assembled group that "cartels are running Mexico" and are "getting worse."

"We can't have that," Trump insisted at the launch of a 17-nation "counter cartel" coalition and again threatened to use US missiles in Mexican territory to "eradicate" the groups.

In February, Mexico's army killed Nemesio Oseguera, the head of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel. The operation triggered an explosion of violence across the country as cartel members enacted retribution

While accepting to share intelligence with the US, Sheinbaum has made clear she draws a line at US military intervention against the cartels.

"Operations in Mexico are carried out by the armed forces, the Ministry of Security, the National Guard, state police forces, and prosecutors," she insisted on Monday.