Politics: U.S. security strategy and the crisis with Mexico

MEXICO - Report 13 Jul 2026 by Guillermo Valdés and Francisco González

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President Sheinbaum revived tension with Washington by making the 2024 kidnapping and handover of "El Mayo" Zambada the centerpiece of her press conferences, accusing former Ambassador Ken Salazar of lying about FBI involvement based on a journalistic report describing a disguised aircraft and an operation code-named "Air Kings". She framed the episode as a matter of national sovereignty rather than drug policy, demanding a formal U.S. explanation through the Attorney General's Office while stopping short of any diplomatic rupture, and reinforced her existing refusal to extradite Sinaloa Governor Rocha Moya and nine other officials on sovereignty grounds. Critics note contradictions in this stance: the silence over Zambada's decades of impunity and preferential treatment under López Obrador; the lack of investigation into Rocha Moya's alleged cartel ties, including Zambada's own account of a planned meeting and the unresolved assassination of a rival lawmaker; and Mexico's own withholding of information even as it demands transparency from Washington.

Meanwhile, U.S. strategy against Mexican cartels—now designated terrorist organizations—has broadened well beyond the DEA's traditional role, coordinating the State Department, Justice Department, Treasury, FinCEN, FBI, and Homeland Security Investigations to dismantle entire financial, logistical, and political support networks, as illustrated by recent cases against Cárteles Unidos and CJNG-linked fuel theft. Reports from the LA Times and The New York Times suggest U.S. investigators are examining the governors of Tamaulipas and Sonora and other Morena-linked officials as possible informants, raising the possibility of a breakdown in the party's long-standing pact of silence. With extensive intelligence gathered from extradited kingpins and ongoing trials, further extradition requests appear likely. Analysts see Sheinbaum's sovereignty argument as a domestic political tool, but a risky one, given that the loss of U.S. trust—rooted in López Obrador's denials about fentanyl production—originally triggered Washington's unilateral action, and nothing suggests the Trump administration's pressure will ease.