Claudia Sheinbaum’s government made the fight against extortion one of its priorities at the end of the year, with the approval of a law that provides for up to 42 years in prison for anyone who commits this crime and who seeks to be investigated ex officio, without the need to file a prior complaint. This will also be among the priorities for 2026. The president called on states to strengthen the fight against this activity, which has continued to grow in recent years, and called on them to approve the national law approved by Congress in November. “One of the great challenges is to move forward in the eradication of extortion in the country,” he declared unequivocally this Thursday morning at the National Public Security Council, which brought together the 32 governors: “If we all take this as something fundamental, we will make much more progress.”
This crime has become one of the main headaches of the Executive Branch. While other serious crimes, such as intentional homicides or theft, are decreasing, extortion has started an escalation that the government is struggling to contain. According to government data, presented during the morning conference this Tuesday, between 2019 and 2025, kidnappings decreased by 58.4% and violent thefts by almost 49%. Extortion, on the other hand, increased by 23.1%. In this context, the National Anti-Extortion Strategy was launched last July and since then the number of complaints has decreased by 20%, although it is unclear whether this also reflects a reduction in the commission of crimes. Furthermore, more than 77,000 extortions were avoided thanks to the 089 call, according to the president the same day.
“Extortion was associated with a state crime and depended on a citizen’s complaint. What the amendment (approved by the Legislature) does is: First, it also makes it a federal crime that can be investigated by the Attorney General’s Office, and makes it a crime that is prosecuted ex officio and carries a higher penalty,” Sheinbaum explained to governors on Thursday. “What virtue does this have? That the complaint does not fall on the victim, it becomes a crime that we must all pursue. This is assuming that extortion is not something that affects a person”, he added.
The growth of this type of activity also worries the Executive on a discursive level. The president acknowledged this morning that, in addition to being “the main challenge” they face, it is also what “affects their perception”. The Moreno government had gained ground in this area with a strategy based on mass arrests and extraordinary seizures. In October, the Senate gave its unanimous support to the person responsible for this success, the Secretary of Security and strong man in the presidential cabinet, Omar García Harfuch. But the truce ended a week later, with the brutal assassination of the mayor of Uruapan, Carlos Manzo, in the middle of the Day of the Dead celebration.
The crime shattered the mirage that Mexico was recovering from the violence, and since then the president has struggled to regain control in both areas: physical and narrative. Extortion fits into the general scenario of insecurity as a type of criminal activity that replaces drug production and trafficking and leaves in its wake a series of similar deaths. About 10 days before the assassination of the municipal president, Bernardo Bravo, representative of the lemon producers of the Apatzingán Valley, in the same state, Michoacán, also fell, erected once again as a symbol of the endemic violence in the country. Added to the levying of fees to be able to harvest and distribute products are attempts by organized crime to become a market regulator, an increasingly sophisticated landscape that is moving faster than government responses.
Claudia Sheinbaum announced the creation of the Michoacán Plan to strengthen the presence in the United States with so-called wellness fairs. 35 priority municipalities have been identified and there are a total of 100 where work should continue. The strategy follows the four axes that the president reiterates on every occasion: attention to the causes, strengthening of the national guard, intelligence and investigation, and coordination. It is this last point which was highlighted during this Thursday’s session with the governors. “By working together next year, when we meet again in this regular session, we will be able to say that together we have reduced this crime of extortion,” he encouraged them at the end of his speech.
About The Author
