Mexico’s security chief leads dramatic reversal, restoring DEA partnership amid political tension
Security cabinet coordinator Omar García Harfuch has steered Mexico back into cooperation with the U.S. DEA, undoing the previous administration’s break.
The left-wing Morena government had ended formal cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration under President López Obrador, but the new administration of President Claudia Sheinbaum is reversing that stance. Security cabinet coordinator Omar García Harfuch, a longtime ally of Sheinbaum, has held two meetings with DEA chief Terrance Cole in Washington and arranged a discreet meeting in Mexico City, signaling a 180-degree shift.
At an international drug-enforcement conference in Argentina, García Harfuch praised the speed of information sharing with the DEA, citing arrests of 63,000 suspects, seizure of 33,000 weapons and a 16-ton meth haul in Sinaloa. He also noted the role of U.S. intelligence in the killing of CJNG leader Nemesio Oseguera (“El Mencho”) and a 50 % drop in fentanyl flows. Nonetheless, Morena hard-liners, including President Sheinbaum, warn that close ties to the United States risk “interventionism” and have expressed reluctance to send García Harfuch to future DEA summits.
Why it matters
Mexico’s renewed DEA cooperation could reshape drug-war tactics but fuels domestic political controversy.
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