Mauricio Kuri, Governor of Querétaro, Did Not Notify the Secretariat of Foreign Relations of Inviting the US Ambassador to a Ceremony, Sheinbaum Says

ByAlonso Urrutia and Emir Olivares

This article by Alonso Urrutia and Emir Olivares originally appeared in the October 5, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Mexico City. President Claudia Sheinbaum expressed her surprise at the invitation from the governor of Querétaro, Mauricio Kuri, to the United States ambassador to Mexico, Ronald Johnson, to lay the first stone of an international academy for training to address organized crime. She stressed that any training agreement between a foreign government and a state administration must necessarily be authorized beforehand by the Secretariat of Foreign Relations.

Without being asked, the President questioned that Kuri invited neither the Secretary of National Defense nor the Security Cabinet and, on the contrary, did invite Johnson. In addition, the US diplomat also did not notify the Mexican Secretariat of Foreign Relations of his participation in this ceremony to begin construction of an international academy to confront organized crime offenses.

On another note, in response to reports of criticism by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Johnson’s performance in Mexico in his recent, soon-to-be-released book, Pueblo, the President stated “that is an opinion of President López Obrador. I am the President of Mexico” and said she must have a more diplomatic consideration, within the framework of the relationship with the United States.

When we do not agree we say so, when there is interference we say so, we seek an institutional relationship.

President Claudia Sheinbaum

Immediately afterward, without elaborating on López Obrador’s criticisms, she questioned the event in which Kuri and Johnson took part without inviting anyone from the federal government. She highlighted that there is a good relationship with the governor and that he has a good relationship with the commander of the Military Zone, with the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Omar García Harfuch, and with the Attorney General of the Republic, Ernestina Godoy. She considered it pertinent to raise the alarm about this unusual meeting:

“We ask ourselves why it is not through the Secretariat of Foreign Relations, as it should be, as the law establishes, and also why the governor’s invitation is to the ambassador and not to the Security Cabinet, because an international academy for organized crime in Querétaro, which are federal crimes, are examples.”

She said it was necessary to mention what should be and what should not be. It must be exposed and spoken about, because otherwise something becomes normal, and the invitation for this academy to combat organized crime is not normal, they are federal crimes.

-Is he breaking the law?

-I don’t think he is committing a crime as such, but it is very important to expose it and say it, because it becomes something normal and it is not normal.

-Is it the same case as the governor of Chihuahua, Maru Campos?

-Not so far, but it has to be named, said. Talk to him so that he meets all the requirements to have this collaboration and to know about this training academy. We are going to wait.

She insisted that for this laying of the first stone, Kuri did not notify the Secretariat of Foreign Relations. Training can be received and equipment can be received, but everything has to go through the Secretariat of Foreign Relations.