Trump’s demands allow Claudia Sheinbaum to dismantle her predecessor’s security policy
The anti-crime measures implemented by the new president undermine the continuity with Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s six-year term, which was defined by a policy of ‘hugs, not bullets’
The policy of ‘hugs, not bullets’ (abrazos, no balazos) with which Andrés Manuel López Obrador kept the fight against organized crime to a minimum, has been shattered in Claudia Sheinbaum’s first five months in office. Although the numbers are not yet entirely telling nor the results statistically comparable, the public discourse is very different. The president and her security czar, Omar García Harfuch, delightedly show off the thousands of arrests of drug lords across the country, the tons of drugs seized and clandestine laboratories dismantled, as well as the weapons, vehicles, and properties confiscated. Added to the daily grind is Operation Northern Border, launched to satisfy Donald Trump’s demands, which expands the trophies on display. The Republican’s demands, which Mexico is preparing to meet, cannot hide the fact that Sheinbaum’s strategy against crime is quietly disrupting her predecessor’s plans.
