MEXICO CITY\u00a0\u2014\u00a0No floodlights illuminate the night sky when the citizens of Mexico\u2019s Gotham need a hand. No hot line summons this super-cop from a hidden redoubt.<\/p>\n
But Mexico does indeed have its own \u201cBatman\u201d: Omar Garc\u00eda Harfuch, security czar in the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum.<\/p>\n
He acquired the Batman moniker during his days as Mexico City\u2019s crime-busting police chief under then-Mayor Sheinbaum. Like the stalwart Dark Knight, Garc\u00eda Harfuch emits the vibe of a vigilant protector who compensates for a lack of superpowers with more cerebral skills \u2014 a mix of intelligence, resolve and moxie. <\/p>\n
In his current post (official title: secretary of Security and Citizen Protection), Garc\u00eda Harfuch is inevitably dispatched to hot spots from the northern border to the southern hinterlands \u2014 sites of assassinations, massacres, gang wars and other headline-grabbing incarnations of Mexican mayhem. The script never varies: He vows to snare the bad guys. Arrests follow.<\/p>\n
Like his boss, Sheinbaum, the security chief disputes President Trump\u2019s assertions that Mexico is \u201crun by\u201d cartels, though he doesn\u2019t deny the widespread sway of organized crime.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, there is definitely a presence of criminal groups, but [Mexico] is not controlled by the cartels,\u201d Garc\u00eda Harfuch, 43, recently told the Mexican daily El Universal.<\/p>\n
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Omar Garc\u00eda Harfuch, far left in suit, walks with President Claudia Sheinbaum, center, and other Mexican officials during a ceremony in Mexico City in September to mark the Sept. 19 earthquakes that hit Mexico in 1985 and 2017.<\/p>\n
(Juan Abundis \/ ObturadorMX via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
His stern, just-the-facts Joe Friday recitals of arrests, seizures, drug lab takedowns and other enforcement actions are signature moments at presidential news briefings. Garc\u00eda Harfuch \u2014 always decked out in suit and tie \u2014 transmits an aura of competence, and his media-savvy advisors have burnished his image as an implacable foe of the cartels. <\/p>\n
Supporters began calling him Batman, in English, when crime rates dropped precipitously in Mexico City during his tenure as police chief. Supporters even circulated online images of a modified Batman action figure, with \u201cHarfuch\u201d emblazoned on the chest. <\/p>\n
While emphasizing intelligence-gathering and investigative diligence, he doesn\u2019t shy from praising shoe-leather police work and citing traditional metrics of success. Since Sheinbaum took office Oct. 1, 2024, he says, authorities have arrested more than 37,000 suspects in \u201chigh-impact crimes,\u201d seized more than 300 tons of illicit drugs and dismantled more than 600 drug labs. <\/p>\n
Such statistics were rarely tossed about during the presidency of Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador, Sheinbaum\u2019s predecessor and mentor. The ex-president favored a much-criticized \u201chugs not bullets\u201d strategy \u2014 curtailing offensive operations against cartels and instead addressing poverty and other socioeconomic factors driving young people to join organized crime. Many Mexicans appear happy with the shift. <\/p>\n
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Garc\u00eda Harfuch, at the National Palace in September, was chief of police of Mexico City before becoming secretary of Security and Citizen Protection.<\/p>\n
(Gerardo Vieyra \/ NurPhoto via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\u201cHarfuch seems to me a good man who has good intentions, but, unfortunately, crime is so ingrained in Mexican society that it\u2019s hard to get rid of it,\u201d said Gregorio Flores, 57, a shop owner in Mexico City. <\/p>\n
Garc\u00eda Harfuch is the probably the most visible figure in the Mexican government apart from the president, and polls show him to be among the most popular \u2014 and a possible candidate to succeed Sheinbaum, who clearly trusts him explicitly from their time together in Mexico City government. Even rivals of Sheinbaum acknowledge his effectiveness.<\/p>\n
Taking a pronounced stance against organized crime is hardly without risk in Mexico, where politicians<\/a>, cops, journalists<\/a> and anyone else who stands in the way of the mobs may wind up in the gangsters\u2019 cross-hairs. Garc\u00eda Harfuch is well aware of the stakes.<\/p>\n Experts work at the crime scene after Garc\u00eda Harfuch was wounded in an assassination attempt in Mexico City on June 26, 2020. Two of his bodyguards and a female bystander were killed.<\/p>\n (Pedro Pardo \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n In 2020, while serving as the capital\u2019s police chief, Garc\u00eda Harfuch survived three gunshot wounds in a brazen attack as his SUV traveled along Mexico City\u2019s elegant Paseo de la Reforma. Killed in the assault were two police bodyguards and a female street vendor who was a bystander. The commando-style strike utilizing multiple high-caliber armaments stunned one of the capital\u2019s toniest residential districts, something like a mob hit on Rodeo Drive. <\/p>\n From his hospital bed, Garc\u00eda Harfuch \u2014 a former federal cop who also has a law degree \u2014 blamed the powerful Jalisco New Generation cartel.<\/p>\n Ongoing threats against Garc\u00eda Harfuch are frequently reported in the Mexican press, including chilling scribbled death threats found in May alongside several mangled bodies, presumed cartel victims, dumped outside Acapulco.<\/p>\n \u201cGarc\u00eda Harfuch is the cartels\u2019 enemy No. 1,\u201d said David Saucedo, a security analyst. \u201cHe\u2019s become a headache for them. The cartels were accustomed to making deals with [the government]. … But Harfuch gives the impression that he\u2019s not disposed to reach an agreement with organized crime groups. And that\u2019s a problem for the cartels.\u201d<\/p>\n Security is Mexicans\u2019 major concern<\/a>, and Garcia Harfuch gives the impression that the good guys are cracking down, even if many are dubious about the steep crime declines Sheinbaum regularly touts. <\/p>\n Homicides have nose-dived by almost 40% since Sheinbaum took office last year, the government says, though critics call the statistic inflated \u2014 it excludes, for instance, the rising numbers of \u201cdisappeared\u201d people, presumed crime victims consigned to clandestine graves<\/a>. <\/p>\n And some have suggested that Sheinbaum\u2019s save-the-day call-ups of her media-savvy security chief are more performative than substantive, and probably counterproductive. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no Batman,\u201d columnist Viri R\u00edos wrote recently in Mexico\u2019s Milenio newspaper. \u201cThe myth of Batman is dangerous, especially for Harfuch. Making him a myth imposes on him the responsibility of pacifying the country. But, as we all know, Omar can\u2019t defeat organized crime by himself.\u201d<\/p>\n In fact, Garc\u00eda Harfuch has relatively few forces under his direct command. Corruption remains rampant among state and municipal police, prosecutors and judges in Mexico, often rendering them unreliable partners. Thus Garc\u00eda Harfuch is dependent on other agencies, notably the national guard, a 200,000-strong force under military command.<\/p>\n Sheinbaum speaks at her daily press briefing in November as Garc\u00eda Harfuch looks on. He is a fixture at the briefings.<\/p>\n (Carl de Souza \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n Garc\u00eda Harfuch regularly extols his relationship with the armed forces, despite rumors of resentment against his sweeping powers and his closeness to Sheinbaum. Mexico\u2019s first female president also serves as military commander in chief. <\/p>\n Garc\u00eda Harfuch is said to have the trust of U.S. law enforcement, even though the Trump administration\u2019s ever-escalating demands and threats of unilateral strikes <\/a>on Mexican territory put him in a tough spot. Only last week, Trump declared that he was \u201cnot happy\u201d with narcotics-fighting efforts in Mexico.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Americans have confidence in Garc\u00eda Harfuch, but they are always asking for more \u2014 more arrests, more extraditions, more decommissions\u201d of drug labs, said Saucedo, the security analyst.<\/p>\n For security reasons, officials provide few details on Garc\u00eda Harfuch\u2019s personal life, beyond saying he is divorced and a father. <\/p>\n Garc\u00eda Harfuch descends from a line of prominent government officials, their careers reflecting, in part, Mexico\u2019s past under a repressive, authoritarian government. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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