Mexico - August 2026

Mexico’s government led by President Claudia Sheinbaum has been working hard to demonstrate to the US administration of President Donald Trump that it is taking the fight against drug cartels seriously. Despite these efforts, the pressure from the US has continued, with the Trump administration now targeting allegedly corrupt Mexican officials as part of its wider campaign against cartels. This is pushing Sheinbaum’s willingness to cooperate to the limit, particularly as the US appears to be mainly targeting officials from the ruling Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena). Tensions ramped up another notch at the end of June, with Sheinbaum vehemently rejecting international press reports suggesting that Morena officials were working as informants for the US government to provide incriminating information about fellow politicians from the ruling party.

In many ways, security cooperation between the US and Mexico has never been stronger. Since Trump took office in January 2025, Sheinbaum’s government has transferred nearly 100 alleged cartel members to the US and taken out the leader of one of the country’s most powerful cartels. She has also overseen an increase in arrests and drug seizures, and significantly brought down the murder rate.

Despite these efforts, tensions over security matters have been bubbling over in recent months, with the suspected presence of unauthorised Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agents in Chihuahua state [SSR-26-07], the US indictment of Morena figures in Sinaloa state [SSR-26-06] and, most recently, renewed questions over the involvement of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in an operation to capture a key drug kingpin on Mexican soil. All this has seen Sheinbaum take a more defensive stance towards US security demands, with her government refusing to hand over the indicted Sinaloa officials and demanding answers regarding alleged CIA and FBI operations in the country.

The latest catalyst for tensions came in the form of a New York Times article, published on 27 June, that stated that at least a dozen Mexican officials, including governors and members of congress, had offered to work as informants for the US government against fellow politicians. According to the article, which cites multiple unnamed sources, many of these informants are from Morena and are “seeking to get ahead of investigations that they fear could soon focus on them”. The article states that these political informants are part of a larger network of cooperating witnesses who are helping the US to build “a remarkably rich picture” of the workings of drug cartels and their links with corrupt officials.

The article goes on to state that these informants are helping with corruption investigations including those targeting the governor of Sonora state, Alfonso Durazo, and of Tamaulipas state, Américo Villarreal Anaya, both of whom hail from Morena. This is not the first time that the media has reported on investigations into the governors, with the Los Angeles Times reporting in June that Durazo was being investigated over alleged ties to organised crime and Villarreal for possible connections to illicit fuel smuggling.

Sheinbaum dismissed the report during a press conference on 29 June, stating it relied too heavily on anonymous sources and needed more information to back up its claims. Durazo and Villarreal have similarly rejected the report, saying they have not received any official notifications that they are under investigation and questioning the veracity of the reporting. Morena’s national leader, Ariadna Montiel, also hit back at the article, saying it echoed “the narrative of the far right that has been building for the past few years”.

Nevertheless, the report is cause for concern for Sheinbaum. It backs up previous indications that the Sinaloa indictments were just the tip of the iceberg and that more are on the way. Indeed, appearing before the US senate on 12 May, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) administrator, Terrance Cole, stated that: “There’s no doubt that the narcotraffickers and high-ranking government officials in Mexico have been in bed for years”, adding that the Sinaloa indictments were “just the start” of what is to come. Cole further added to tensions on 13 July by stating there was a “deadly connection” between drug cartels and the Mexican government.

The report is also worrying for Sheinbaum in what it suggests about dynamics within Morena itself. The idea that officials are providing incriminating information on fellow party members in a bid to save their own skin does not say much for party unity, particularly with key midterm elections due next year. It also follows a pattern seen following the Sinaloa indictment when two of those indicted, former Sinaloa state security minister Gerardo Mérida Sánchez (2023-2024) and former state secretary of administration and finance Enrique Díaz Vega (2021-2024) appeared to hand themselves in to US authorities, suggesting they may be seeking to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for lighter sentences. This has contradicted the response from others indicted, such as Sinaloa state governor Rubén Rocha Moya, who have vehemently professed their innocence, and undermined Sheinbaum’s efforts to rally the party around her attempts to stand up to the US and demand more evidence.

If the claims in the article are true, it would point to widespread collusion between Morena officials and organised crime, something which Sheinbaum has denied. While her government has tried to demonstrate efforts to crack down on such corruption, this has mostly been limited to opposition politicians. The president has already shown her reluctance to act on alleged corruption among senior Morena members in her response to the Sinaloa accusations. More such indictments would make this position increasingly untenable and force the president to act decisively, rather than play for time as she currently appears to be doing. An acceptance of the US accusations risks infuriating key party members and opening herself up to criticism of being submissive to the US. However, ignoring such allegations could damage her anti-corruption credentials and further strain US relations, risking repercussions in trade and other areas.

El Mayo questions resurface

Another point of contention in recent weeks has revolved around the July 2024 arrest of Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada García, a co-founder of the Cártel de Sinaloa. Zambada was arrested after apparently being betrayed by a fellow cartel member and taken to the US against his will. The US government has always denied involvement in the operation to capture Zambada and transport him to the US, despite Mexico’s government at the time, led by former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024), suspecting its participation.

Controversy around the arrest resurfaced after the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) appeared to take credit for the operation in early July, gifting an aircraft to a US military aviation museum that it said was used to transport Zambada to the US. Mexico’s federal attorney general’s office (FGR) has requested more information from the US about the arrest, stating that if the FBI’s participation in the operation is confirmed, it would represent a violation of Mexican and international law; “a pact made outside the bounds of the law”; and a lie told by former US ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar (2021-2025), who has repeatedly denied US involvement, “which would constitute a breach of the cornerstone principle of good faith in diplomatic relations”.

Migrant deaths

Tensions between the US and Mexico have also risen over the death of Mexican migrants under US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody or during ICE operations. According to the foreign ministry (SRE), 14 Mexicans have died in ICE detention centres and three have been killed in ICE operations since President Trump took office in January 2025. The SRE has filed legal complaints with US state prosecutors’ offices and the US Department of Justice, as well as civil lawsuits against the private companies that operate ICE detention centres, in response to the deaths.