AFP, Washington

President Donald Trump is moving to target Latin American drug cartels with the military, US media said Friday, after Washington designated several narcotics trafficking groups as “terrorist” organizations earlier this year.

The New York Times reported that Trump has directed the Pentagon to use military force against cartels deemed terrorist organizations.

The United States designated Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua, Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and six other drug trafficking groups with Latin American roots as terror groups in February.

But the Mexican foreign ministry stressed that Mexico “would not accept the participation of US military forces on our territory.”

Trump’s administration has since added another Venezuelan gang, the Cartel of the Suns, which has allegedly shipped hundreds of tons of narcotics into the United States over two decades.

The United States accuses Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro of leading that cartel -- an allegation Caracas has rejected as a “ridiculous smokescreen.”