Claudia Sheinbaum Puts Mexico on Collision Course with U.S. and Basic Democratic Civics

It’s easy to feel sorry for Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has the misfortune of presiding over the worst crisis in U.S.–Mexican relations in a century. The crisis has been building since the April 19 deaths of two CIA officers in Chihuahua, followed by the April 29 U.S. indictments of an array of Mexican officeholders, including a governor and a senator. The ruling Morena party, shot through with narco-corruption to the top levels and aware that the American indictments can go much further, is now in disarray over events. Sheinbaum, who is not known to be in her party’s narco faction, is saddled with a crisis she arguably did not create.

It is therefore perplexing that the Mexican president seems determined to worsen that crisis — and to do so in ways that place her and her regime in a no-win scenario. In the face of the American exposure of Morena’s long-standing partnerships with cartels, she has chosen confrontation with the United States rather than to adhere to her established doctrine of cooperación sin subordinación.

About the Author

Joshua S. Treviño

Joshua S. Treviño works in public policy in Austin, Texas, and in Washington, D.C.

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It’s easy to feel sorry for Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has the misfortune of presiding over the worst crisis in U.S.–Mexican relations in a century. The crisis has been building since the April 19 deaths of two CIA officers in Chihuahua, followed by the April 29 U.S. indictments of an array of Mexican officeholders, including a governor and a senator. The ruling Morena party, shot through with narco-corruption to the top levels and aware that the American indictments can go much further, is now in disarray over events. Sheinbaum, who is not known to be in her party’s narco faction, is saddled with a crisis she arguably did not create.

It is therefore perplexing that the Mexican president seems determined to worsen that crisis — and to do so in ways that place her and her regime in a no-win scenario. In the face of the American exposure of Morena’s long-standing partnerships with cartels, she has chosen confrontation with the United States rather than to adhere to her established doctrine of cooperación sin subordinación.