For Mexico's security chief, El Mencho killing was personal

Record ID: 2361084

  • Title: For Mexico's security chief, El Mencho killing was personal
  • Date: 5th March 2026
  • Summary: SYRACUSE, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (MARCH 3, 2026) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AT SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY SPECIALISED IN MEXICO-U.S. RELATIONS, GLADYS MCCORMICK, SAYING: “Well, he's showing himself to be unbelievably savvy and very knowledgeable in terms of how to kind of manage some of the pressures that he is or the Sheinbaum administration is experie
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: El Mencho crime mexico
  • Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
  • City: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,South America / Central America,North America
  • Reuters ID: LVA008103604032026RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Mexico’s security chief, the man who led the operation that killed the drug lord known as “El Mencho,” spends his days and nights inside fortified office buildings, including a one-bedroom apartment in the security ministry built for him.
    His quarters – inside a modern complex atop a busy thoroughfare – include a bedroom, gym, kitchen, and a conference room that seats 25. From the living room, guests can hear the crack of gunfire from a firing range within the building complex, according to a high-ranking government official who has visited the apartment. A red telephone on his desk provides a direct line to the president.
    Omar Garcia Harfuch, 44, has lived this way since 2020, when on his commute to work a truck cut off his armored Suburban and gunmen disguised as road workers sprayed his vehicle with more than 400 bullets. Harfuch returned fire and survived with three gunshot wounds. Two of his bodyguards and a bystander were killed.
    The security chief blamed the assassination attempt on Nemesio Oseguera, 59, better known as El Mencho, leader of the brutal Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Mexico’s largest and bloodiest crime group. Six years later, bringing down the cartel leader was a deeply personal moment for Harfuch, whose friends say was devastated by his security guards’ deaths. 
    Harfuch declined to comment for this story. The account is based on interviews with a dozen friends, colleagues and security analysts.
    Those close to him say that he won’t let his guard down now that El Mencho is gone. But the death of the kingpin has lifted the profile of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s security chief, credited with spearheading her more muscular approach to fighting cartels, so much so he’s considered an early frontrunner for the presidency when her six-year term expires in 2030. 
    The approach is not without risks: El Mencho’s death triggered a wave of violence across Mexico that killed 25 national guard members and could fuel deadly feuds as rival cartel factions fight for control. 
    It’s also a marked departure from former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s “hugs not bullets” philosophy, under which cartels grew in power and reach to control vast swaths of territory and diversified from drugs into extortion, human trafficking, water and contraband fuel. 
    (Production: Alberto Fajardo, José Luis Osorio, Iván Villanueva, Liberto Urena, Alfonso Lepe, Diego Delgado, Dessire Carrion, Anna Portella)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2026. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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