Mexican organized-crime groups<\/a> pour money into electoral campaigns, especially at the local level. But it\u2019s rarely addressed openly by Mexican officials. The alert from the Treasury Department\u2019s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ignited an uproar, with analysts seeing it as the latest sign the United States wants to go after not just cartel capos, but their suspected enablers in government.\n <\/p>\n\n In the last year, the Trump administration has yanked the US visas of at least one governor, Marina del Pilar\u202f\u00c1vila\u202fOlmeda of the Mexican state of Baja California, and numerous mayors. And in a rare move, US prosecutors indicted a sitting governor \u2013 Rub\u00e9n\u202fRocha Moya of Sinaloa \u2013 for allegedly allowing drug traffickers to operate in exchange for bribes and electoral support. Both\u202fRocha and\u202f\u00c1vila, who are both from the ruling Morena party, have denied wrongdoing.\n <\/p>\n
\n The actions mark a sharp break with a US practice of handling bilateral disputes largely behind closed doors, and not openly interfering in Mexican politics.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThis is uncharted territory in US-Mexico relations,\u201d said Pamela Starr, a political scientist at the University of Southern California and author of a recent book, \u201cThe Making of Mexico: Revolution, Reform, and Transformation.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n The United States traditionally gave Mexico \u201ca lot of domestic political autonomy,\u201d she said, to ensure stability in a neighbor willing to cooperate on issues ranging from global power relations to illegal migration and trade.\n <\/p>\n
\n What changed? The Trump administration has embraced a hard-line approach that has included labeling the cartels as terrorist organizations and bombing suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific. US authorities may also now be in a better position than ever to prosecute politicians who assist organized crime groups. Thanks to aggressive American anti-drug operations and cooperation from Mexico, scores of top-level cartel figures have been sent to US custody in the past two years. Security analysts speculate that many are willing to talk about their bribes to politicians, in hopes of reducing their sentences.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s the only realistic way in this country to detect the ties between organized crime and political campaigns,\u201d said Luis Carlos Ugalde, an academic who led Mexico\u2019s Federal Electoral Institute from 2003-07.\n <\/p>\n
\n But the US policy is straining relations with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and her left-wing Morena party, which has a congressional majority and holds nearly three-quarters of the country\u2019s governorships. If the Trump administration goes too far, said Starr, \u201cthey risk poisoning the waters of bilateral security cooperation.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
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\n No one knows the exact scale of cartel donations to Mexican political campaigns, but even former electoral officials acknowledge the sums are significant.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s a phenomenon that has detonated very rapidly,\u201d said Ugalde, adding that the problem barely reggistered two decades ago, when he was an electoral official.\n <\/p>\n
\n In 2018, he co-authored a report estimating that\u202fcandidates for governor typically spend at least 15 times as much on campaigns\u202fas they report to authorities. The \u201cdark money\u201d includes not just organized crime contributions, but funds siphoned from government budgets, and donations from business owners hoping to win contracts, he wrote.\n <\/p>\n
\n Campaigns generally receive such funds in cash, and disburse them the same way, leaving no financial trail. \u201cNo one pays for a get-out-the-vote operation with their American Express card,\u201d noted the report, titled \u201cMoney Under the Table.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Jaime\u202fGarc\u00eda, a political consultant, said campaigns have become increasingly expensive over the past few decades as Mexico transitioned from a one-party state to a competitive democracy. That\u2019s motivated party officials to ignore campaign-finance rules and accept illegal donations, he said.\n <\/p>\n
\n Rarely have the donors or recipients of narco funds been prosecuted, let alone convicted.\n <\/p>\n
\n There are multiple reasons for that failure. Mexico has a weak, overwhelmed justice system. Witnesses are often too frightened of the cartels to testify in court. And none of the parties have been keen to scrutinize the cash flowing into their campaigns.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s not convenient for anyone to trace the money spent during the days of official campaigning,\u201d\u202fGarc\u00eda\u202fsaid.\n <\/p>\n
\n While following the money may be difficult, there are other signs of the growing role of organized crime in politics. More than\u202fthree dozen candidates were killed in the run-up to the 2024 national election,\u202fand hundreds more dropped out of the race, as crime groups maneuvered to install their allies. Political control of towns and cities has become more important as cartels have diversified into activities like extortion, illegal logging and domestic drug sales. If they once focused on securing highways to send heroin or cocaine to the United States, they now seek to control local mayors\u2019 offices and police forces, and entire populations.\n <\/p>\n
\n Sheinbaum has said that little evidence has emerged to substantiate claims of cartels interfering with elections, and noted that a state-level electoral tribunal ratified Rocha\u2019s win in Sinaloa, after examining reports of irregularities. Still, she has proposed that federal electoral authorities establish a verification board to screen candidates for organized-crime links before next year\u2019s mid-term elections.\n <\/p>\n
\n She has also aired suspicions about the goal of the Trump administration\u2019s targeting of politicians allegedly in bed with cartels. \u201cIs this a legitimate interest to fight organized crime?\u201d Sheinbaum asked in a recent speech. \u201cOr are we perhaps seeing how sectors of the US ultra-right are using our country to position themselves in the run-up to the (November) 2026 elections?\u201d\n <\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
\n The recent Treasury statement took aim at one of those newer cartel activities. The contraband sale of oil and gasoline has become a multibillion-dollar business in Mexico, with the government accusing crime groups of working hand-in-glove with corrupt officials and businesses. In some cases, the crime rings steal fuel in Mexico and re-sell it; in others, they smuggle it across the US border.\n <\/p>\n
\n The Treasury alert said cartels are using profits from such sales to elect corrupt Mexican politicians who\u202fprovide access to \u201ckey administrative posts in the government\u201d so the criminals can more easily smuggle fuel and launder the proceeds.\n <\/p>\n
\n It was a sweeping indictment of Mexican politics, and Sheinbaum responded indignantly. \u201cWhat evidence do they have?\u201d she asked at a news conference.\n <\/p>\n
\n The allegation was just part of a drumbeat of US criticism over the cartels\u2019 political protection rackets.\n <\/p>\n
\n US Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson signaled in April that the\u202fTrump administration was opening a new front in the anti-drug fight, warning that \u201csignificant action\u201d was coming against bribery and corruption in Mexico. Almost a week later, the US Justice Department announced the\u202findictment of Rocha and nine other current and former Sinaloa officials. It accused them of working with the Sinaloa cartel to send \u201cmassive quantities of narcotics into the United States in exchange for political support and bribes.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n The case is especially delicate because Rocha is a close ally of former President\u202fAndr\u00e9s Manuel\u202fL\u00f3pez Obrador, Sheinbaum\u2019s mentor. She has refused an American request to detain Rocha for extradition, saying Washington hasn\u2019t handed over proof of his guilt.\u202fThe Sinaloa governor has taken a leave of absence while the US investigation is underway.\u202fHe has alleged the accusations were aimed at weakening Morena. \u201cThese charges against me are false,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cI will not allow them to use me to damage the movement I belong to.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Analysts say the Trump administration policy has created a dilemma for Sheinbaum: Morena has promoted itself as an anti-corruption party, and she does not want to give the impression she\u2019s covering up graft. Yet handing over prominent Morena politicians to the United States could damage the party\u2019s popularity and weaken Sheinbaum\u2019s own control of her government.\n <\/p>\n
\n Until now, the Mexican leader has largely sought to placate US President Donald Trump in his anti-drug campaign. She sent thousands of soldiers to patrol the Mexican border and transferred more than 90 top drug cartel figures to US custody. Her government has cracked down on fuel theft and arrested dozens of current and former local officials \u2013 including some from Morena \u2013 accused of colluding with crime groups.\n <\/p>\n
\n But in recent weeks she has hardened her tone, saying the US government was trying to undermine Mexico\u2019s sovereignty with indictments like Rocha\u2019s. Both the Mexican government and public are highly sensitive to interference from a neighbor that annexed more than half their territory in the 1800s.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cLet\u2019s be clear: first they come for some, then for others, until the offices of the Department of Justice become the main electors in Mexico,\u201d Sheinbaum said in late May. \u201cWe cannot allow this.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n While few doubt corrupt politicians offer essential support for organized crime, it\u2019s not clear how much the Trump administration\u2019s policy can ultimately weaken the groups. Cartels, smaller mafias and street gangs hold sway in town halls and state governments around the country and have deepened their role in the economy.\u202fBoth\u202fUS and Mexican critics say this country lacks an effective justice system and well-trained police, and has persistently underfunded its security apparatus. The cartels are also fortified by strong US demand for drugs and the illegal flow of American guns over the border.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cFixing the problem in Mexico is a generational project,\u201d said Starr. \u201cIt\u2019s not something that can be done in a year or two, or the remaining four years of the Sheinbaum administration.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mexico City\u00a0\u2014\u00a0 For decades, drug lords with names like \u201cEl Chapo\u201d and \u201cEl Mencho\u201d have been the poster…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":783658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-783657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=783657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}