Mexico wracked by ‘heinous violence.’ But is it terrorism?

For more than a decade, Mexicans have faced increasingly terrifying acts of violence by organized criminals. From beheadings to rocket-propelled grenades bringing down a military helicopter to thousands of clandestine graves, more than 250,000 people have been brutally murdered by cartel violence here since 2006.

Last month, after nine U.S.-Mexican dual citizens, mostly children, were attacked and killed on a quiet, backcountry road in the northern state of Sonora, President Donald Trump declared on cable news that the time had come to designate criminal organizations functioning in Mexico as foreign terrorist organizations (FTO).

This isn’t the first