The government’s security strategy Claudia Sheinbaum In Mexico. The turn towards a policy of confrontation against drug trafficking cartels, at the request of USAled to murders of politicians, a further increase in the number of missing people and … a growing perception of insecurity among citizens. Even Sheinbaum herself is not spared, as seen last month when she was groped in Mexico City Square.
As a result of this attrition, Sheinbaum last week fired Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero, who was closely associated with the previous president. Andrés Manuel López Obrador. In his place, the president placed Ernestine Godoya lawyer you trust completely.
Sheinbaum landed at the National Palace in October 2024 and was appointed Secretary of Security Omar Garcia Harfucha former police officer who had just accomplished this same mission under his orders within the government of the capital between 2018 and 2024.
García Harfuch proposed reversing the policy of López Obrador’s six-year term of the so-called “Hugs, not balls”. That is, not openly confronting the cartels and opting for social containment measures – basically economic support – so that the youngest do not join the ranks of organized crime.
The López Obrador government ended with more than 199,000 homicides, more than the mandates of Enrique Peña Nieto and Felipe Calderón
Obrador’s ties to drug trafficking
Underneath this rhetoric, fragile ties to the cartels were fostered. Last year, the ‘New York Times’ highlighted former President López Obrador and his family’s ties to drug traffickers. In 2021, the opposition denounced the fact that Sinaloa Cartel had supported the campaigns of López Obrador’s candidates in this state and in Tamaulipas. Likewise, the opposition criticized the fact that the former president performed in various public scenes in which he showed more sympathy for the mother of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman as by mothers searching for the bodies of their missing people across the country.
In any case, the statistics do not support López Obrador. He ended his government with more than 199,000 homicides, more than previous terms of office. Enrique Pena Nieto And Felipe Calderon.
García Harfuch proposed a 180 degree turn and the Sheinbaum government launched specific attacks against drug trafficking: destruction of drug laboratories. fentanylmass arrests of cartel members, deportations of drug lords to US prisons, seizures of drug shipments and freezing of bank accounts used to launder illicit resources.
This strategy was not without reprisals. In Sheinbaum’s first month at the National Palace alone, 31 police officers were murdered. The number of missing soldiers has also increased, currently exceeding 150. The violence has also had a political impact: so far, under the Sheinbaum administration, 11 acting mayors have been executed, all from different political parties.
New strategy against violence
The first months of the new strategy showed immediate results with fewer intentional homicides in official data. The best month was August this year, when the government managed to reduce the 86 daily deaths compared to the same period last year to 56 homicides, according to data from the Security Ministry.
Advances that were presented as successes during morning conferences at the National Palace and celebrated notably in Washington, where García Harfuch became the man in Mexico for the security agencies of the government of Donald Trump.
And when the Republican returned to the White House in January of this year, Sheinbaum had no other choice: either drug trafficking would be attacked head-on, or Trump would authorize military incursions against the cartels into Mexican territory.
Thanks to García Harfuch’s strategy, the Trump administration was able to quickly celebrate a decreased flow of fentanyl in the United States. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has reported a decrease in seizures of the drug. Between October 2024 and March 2025, these decreased by 30% compared to the same period of the previous year, and up to 49% compared to the 2022-2023 cycle.
Despite this progress, negative signs have started to appear. Since May, the number of missing people has started to increase and the feeling of insecurity in large cities has also increased. At the same time, Sheinbaum has not made any arrests against politicians and institutional actors linked to organized crime.
The government is openly fighting drug trafficking in Sinaloa. It is an absolutely militarized state. There, violence has spilled over against civilians, who face burning of their vehicles and attacks on their homes.
During her first months as president, multiple scandals were revealed involving governors, senators and former officials in López Obrador’s cabinet, all with varying levels of involvement in crime. But for the moment, no significant figures have been studied. Hence also the change within the Attorney General’s office.
Insecurity in the country
At the same time, the National Survey on Urban Public Safety (ENSU) reports that in September 2025, 63% of the population aged over 18 and residing in 91 urban areas considered it dangerous to live in their city. During the same period of 2024, this percentage was 51%.
A document presented by the organization México Evalúa indicates that one of the reasons for the advancement of the project perception of insecurity The population believes that greater confrontation against organized crime can threaten its own security due to the loss of tacit agreements between authority and crime.
The best example of this is that of Sinaloa, where the government openly fights drug trafficking in an absolutely militarized state. There, the violence has spilled over against civilians, who suffer the burning of their vehicles, attacks on their homes and, of course, they disappear, which is why the population does not leave their homes after sunset.
The assassination of the former mayor of Uruapan Carlos Manzo, earlier this month, in the second most populous city in the state of Michoacanexposed the government, as Manzo demanded more personal security. Following his death, protests and appeals took place in cities across the country, which worried the ruling party leadership and prompted negative comments from Trump himself. From the Oval Office, he told the press that he “wasn’t happy” with what was happening in Mexico. He later again expressed support for military intervention south of the Rio Grande.
Thus, Sheinbaum arrives at a crossroads. He took on organized crime to avoid interference from Washington. But, after more than a year in power, his strategy shows weaknesses and pushes him to the most feared scenario: having to, ultimately, accept a more important role for the United States in the fight against violence.
About The Author
