USA announced on Wednesday that it had intercepted and neutralized drones from the mexican cartelshours after briefly closing the airport in the border city of El Paso (Texas).
The incident occurs in a context of tensions between Washington and Mexico due to drug trafficking and trade disputes between both countries.
A US official told AFP, on condition of anonymity, that drones belonging to Mexican drug cartels had entered US airspace.
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The military forces “took measures to disable the drones,” after which the Pentagon determined together with the aviation regulatory body (FAA) that “there was no threat to commercial transportation,” said source said.
The Armed Forces had announced in the early morning the closure of the airport, one of the most important in the southern United States, for ten days, an exceptional measure.
The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaumannounced that an investigation will be carried out into why Texas airspace was closed and maintained that his government has “no information” about the use of drones on the border with the United States.
All airlines had to suspend their flights to or from this city, bordering the Mexican city of Ciudad Juárez.
The airspace overflight restriction, which also affected the neighboring town of Santa Teresa, in New Mexico, came into effect on Wednesday at 0630 GMT.
It encompassed cargo and commercial flights and extended to an altitude of 18,000 feet (5,500 m) above the airport, within a radius of 10 nautical miles (18.5 km).
El Paso International Airport suspended all air operations by federal order. | Credit: Facebook / El Paso International Airport (ELP)
“The temporary closure of airspace over El Paso has been lifted. Commercial aviation is not threatened. All flights resume normal operations,” the FAA stated in X.
He El Paso airport It received 3.49 million passengers during the first 11 months of 2025.
The main US airlines, including Southwest, Delta, United and American, serve that important city in the south of the country.
“No one in the local government or at the local military base received more than a few minutes’ notice, not even the mayor,” a Democratic representative from El Paso, Chris Canales, told the Wall Street Journal.
“We had never seen anything so radical,” he explained.
The president donald trump He has warned on several occasions since he began his second term that he is willing to intervene at any time against targets he describes as “narcoterrorists” in any country south of the border.
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“The cartels run Mexico. It is very, very sad to see and contemplate what has happened in that country,” Fox News recently declared.
Sheinbaum has reiterated that she is open to increasing cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking.
His government has handed over dozens of drug lords and cartel members to US justice, and claims that it has increased seizures of fentanyl, the drug that causes the most health problems in the United States.
The Pentagon began a campaign of attacks in September against suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific that has claimed dozens of victims.
The US FAA warned on January 16 of “military activity” in the airspace of certain regions, especially near Mexico and several countries in Central and South America, and urged extreme caution.
The agency mentioned “potentially dangerous situations” that could also disrupt satellite navigation systems. His notice covered a period of sixty days.
