Warning signs appear on Mexican beach declaring US restricted area as Mexico rejects Trump’s offer to attack cartels

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday ruled out allowing US attacks against cartels on Mexican soil, a day after President Trump said he was willing to do whatever it took to stop drugs from entering the United States. Meanwhile, Mexican and American diplomats were trying to resolve what may have been an actual American incursion.

On Monday, some men arrived in a boat to a beach in northeastern Mexico and installed some signs marking land that the United States Department of Defense considered restricted.

Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said late Monday that the country’s navy had removed the signs, which appeared to be on Mexican territory. “The origin of the signals and their location in the national territory were not clear,” the ministry said in a statement.

On Tuesday, Sheinbaum said the International Boundary and Water Commission, a binational agency that determines the border between the two countries, was getting involved.

The signs, stuck in the sand near where the Rio Grande flows into the Gulf of Mexico, caused a stir when witnesses said men in a boat arrived at the local beach known as Bagdad Beach and erected them.

The signs read in English and Spanish: “Warning: Restricted Area” and went on to explain that it was property of the Department of Defense and had been declared restricted by “the commander.” He said there could be no unauthorized access, photographs or drawings of the area.

News 4 News Rio Grande Valley posted an image of one of the signs on social media.

The U.S. Embassy in Mexico shared a comment from the Pentagon on Tuesday about the incident, confirming that contractors who put up signs to mark “National Defense Area III” had placed signs at the mouth of the Rio Grande.

“Changes in water depth and topography altered the perception of the location of the international border,” the statement said. “Government of Mexico personnel removed 6 signs based on their perception of the location of the international boundary.”

The Pentagon said contractors would “coordinate with appropriate agencies to avoid confusion in the future.”

Mexico had contacted its consulate in Brownsville, Texas, and then the U.S. embassy in Mexico City. Ultimately, it was determined that contractors working for some U.S. government entity had posted the signs, Sheinbaum said.

“But the river changes course, it becomes loose and according to the treaty the national border must be clearly demarcated,” Sheinbaum said during his daily press conference on Tuesday.

The area is near the SpaceX Starbase, which is located next to Boca Chica Beach on the Texas side of the Rio Grande.

The SpaceX rocket program’s facility and launch site are under contract with the Department of Defense and NASA, which hopes to send astronauts back to the Moon and one day to Mars.

In June, Sheinbaum said the government was investigating contamination at SpaceX facilities after pieces of metal, plastic and rocket parts were reportedly found on the Mexican side of the border following a rocket explosion during a test.

The area also carries the added sensitivity of Trump’s order to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico like the Gulf of America, which Mexico has also rejected.

Meanwhile, Sheinbaum again rejected Trump’s offer of military intervention against the cartels on Tuesday.

“That’s not going to happen,” Sheinbaum said.

“He (Trump) has suggested it on several occasions or said ‘we offer you a United States military intervention in Mexico, whatever you need to combat criminal groups,'” he said. “But I have told you on every occasion that we can collaborate, that you can help us with the information you have, but that we operate in our territory, that we do not accept any intervention from a foreign government.”

Sheinbaum said he had said this to Mr. Trump and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on previous occasions and that they understood.

“Would I like to see attacks in Mexico to stop the drugs? That’s fine with me, let’s do what we have to do to stop the drugs,” Trump said Monday, adding that he is “not happy with Mexico.”