President Claudia Sheinbaum said the administrations of former presidents Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón maintained relations with the Sinaloa Cartel.
These accusations target the highest levels of Mexico's previous political leadership, framing the current administration's struggle with organized crime as a legacy of systemic corruption. By labeling these eras as "narcogovernments," Sheinbaum is linking institutional failure to specific former leaders.
Speaking at the Monumento a la Revolución in Mexico City during the presentation of her second government report, Sheinbaum said two [1] previous presidential terms were periods of collaboration with drug traffickers. She specifically named the sexenios of Fox and Calderón as the administrations that functioned as narcogovernments.
As evidence for these claims, the president pointed to the legal proceedings in the U.S. regarding Genaro García Luna. The former security secretary was detained and convicted in the U.S. for his ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, a case that Sheinbaum said proves the depth of the previous governments' complicity.
The president said that the times have changed, contrasting her current governance with the alleged agreements between the state and the cartel during those two [1] terms. These remarks come amid ongoing U.S. accusations against various Mexican officials regarding their alleged links to narcotics trafficking.
Sheinbaum said she did not elaborate on specific new evidence beyond the García Luna conviction, but she emphasized that the links between the former presidents and the cartel are demonstrated. The event served as a platform to distance her administration from the policies and personnel of her predecessors.
“The administrations of former presidents Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón maintained relations with the Sinaloa Cartel.”
By explicitly labeling previous administrations as 'narcogovernments,' Sheinbaum is attempting to shift the narrative of insecurity in Mexico from a current policy failure to a historical systemic corruption. Utilizing a U.S. court conviction as the primary evidence serves to legitimize her claims through an external judicial authority, potentially insulating her administration from similar accusations by framing the past as the era of institutionalized cartel collaboration.
