El Chapo

President Donald Trump has signed off on a secret directive that, if activated, would let the US military hunt Mexican drug cartels the same way it once hunted al-Qaeda. Cartels branded as Foreign Terrorist Organizations could suddenly find themselves in the crosshairs of US drones, special forces and the full arsenal of counter-terror laws. Sinaloa, CJNG, Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua and even Nicolás Maduro’s own Cartel de los Soles are on the list. In Washington, the move is framed as a clean break with decades of failed “law enforcement” tactics. No more just DEA stings or financial sanctions, this is now a national security war. Marco Rubio put it bluntly: "We can't continue treating these guys like local street gangs. They have weapons like terrorists.

Consider it the first tangible example of Donald Trump’s Western Hemisphere policy made real. The president’s day-one Executive Order calling for the “total elimination” of multiple cartels is now getting its teeth in the form of a list drawn up by the Department of State designating eight different groups based across Latin America as foreign terrorist organizations, according to the New York Times.

The international media has a new Mexican girlboss to fawn over. Claudia Sheinbaum is Mexico’s new presidenta, leading a landslide for AMLO’s populist leftist Morena Party now empowered to alter Mexico’s Constitution according to his wishes. Should Donald Trump return to the White House, I can only imagine the “yas kween” memes that will emerge from their confrontations over the remain in Mexico policy. And did you know she’s a socialist and a climate scientist, too? Coming soon to a TIMEime magazine cover, a Vogue fashion profile and a children’s board book near you. Of course, those articles to come will spend more time on the glass ceiling than on all those pesky murders and missing people.