There has been a growing push from Americans, particularly those along the Mexican border, for the federal government to label the Mexican drug cartels as terrorists. On Thursday, the State Department indicated that the actions of the cartels are consistent with those considered to be “terrorism or insurgency.”

“I do acknowledge that many of the facts on the ground, the things that are being done by those organizations, are consistent with what we would call either terrorism or insurgency in other countries,” William Brownfield told a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. The statement by Brownfield, who serves as the Assistant Secretary at the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, came in response to the following question posed by Rep. Connie Mack (R-Fla.) of the Foreign Affairs Western Hemisphere subcommittee:

If the cartels in Mexico are offering health care, if they’re trying to displace the government, isn’t that a political – isn’t that politically motivated? [G]oing into these communities and putting on barbecues or picnics and trying to win the support of the public so the public will listen to the cartels and not the government, isn’t that a political motivation?

When Brownfield made his statement regarding the Mexican drug cartels, Mack responded, “It is clear that an insurgency is happening in Mexico.”

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Photo: Juan José Esparragoza Moreno is a Sinaloa Cartel drug lord.