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QUESTION: — in Latin America as terrorist organizations. How did that change the way, the interaction between these cartels and the United States, and who made that decision? How did the President come to that?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, the President makes the decision – yeah – on our recommendation. Here’s the thing: We cannot continue to just treat these guys as local street gangs. They have weaponry that looks like what terrorists, in some cases armies, have. They control territory in many cases. Those cartels extend from the Maduro regime in Venezuela – which is not a legitimate government; we don’t recognize the Maduro regime as legitimate.
QUESTION: Right.
SECRETARY RUBIO: It is a criminal enterprise – all the way to the various different cartels that operate in Mexico, and in between. You find them in Ecuador. You find them in Guatemala. You find TDA – what people would call street gangs, but actually are operating as criminal enterprises, but very well-organized ones. So what it changes is it gives us legal authorities to target them in ways you can’t do if they’re just a bunch of criminals. It’s no longer a law enforcement issue. It becomes a national security issue.
QUESTION: Has it changed their behavior at all?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I don’t know if it’s changed their behavior yet, but their behavior is going to have to change one way or another. But it allows us to now target what they’re operating and to use other elements of American power, intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, whatever —
QUESTION: Yeah.
SECRETARY RUBIO: — to target these groups if we have an opportunity to do it. We have to start treating them as armed terrorist organizations, not simply drug dealing organizations. Drug dealing is the kind of terrorism they’re doing, and it’s not the only.