Mexico's Sheinbaum defies Trump, defends drug trafficking suspects |
Mexico’s Sheinbaum defies Trump, defends drug trafficking suspects
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum appears to be placing her political party over justice, and drug cartels over her nation’s relationship with the U.S.
Doubts regarding the extradition of Sinaloa’s governor, Rubén Rocha Moya, have been replaced by a defiant narrative emphasizing national sovereignty and lack of evidence regarding his connections to drug traffickers.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the Drug Enforcement Administration announced indictments against Rocha, Sen. Enrique Inzunza, Culiacán Mayor Juan de Dios Gámez and seven other current and former Mexican officials for allegedly conspiring with the Sinaloa Cartel to import massive quantities of drugs into the U.S. in exchange for political support and bribes.
During President Trump’s first administration, former Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador mocked the then-newcomer to the White House. In 2020, when the U.S. arrested former Mexican Defense Minister Salvador Cienfuegos on charges linked to drug trafficking, Lopez Obrador demanded he be handed over so that he could be tried under Mexico’s sovereign jurisdiction. The outcome was exactly as expected: In less than a year, Cienfuegos was a free man, enjoying the Mexican government’s policy of “hugs, not bullets“.
Those days are now a thing of the past. Sheinbaum is not López Obrador, and the Trump of 2026 is not the same as the Trump of 2020. The capture of Nicolas........