More Than a War, During Felipe Calderón’s Six-Year Term They Allied with the ‘Narco’: Sheinbaum

ByArturo Sánchez Jiménez and Alonso Urrutia

This article by Arturo Sánchez Jiménez and Alonso Urrutia originally appeared in the June 10, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

After asserting that during Felipe Calderón’s government there existed a collusion with the Sinaloa cartel, President Claudia Sheinbaum stated yesterday that “there is a lot of shamelessness” in the corruption accusations launched by sectors of the opposition against her administration, and maintained that the most serious cases occurred in past administrations.

“We already know that in reality, more than a war against the narco, well, they decided to ally themselves with a cartel. It is known by everyone and there is sufficient evidence to confirm this. They allied with the Sinaloa cartel against other criminal groups, something we would never do,” she declared at her customary press conference at the National Palace.

The president was responding to a question about the disqualification of Frida Martínez Zamora, former general secretary of the now-defunct Federal Police, and of Damián Canales Mena, former head of that corporation’s intelligence division, who were sanctioned for the diversion of more than 65 million dollars related to the acquisition of espionage technology.

Sheinbaum maintained that this case is part of a series of investigations linked to Genaro García Luna, former Public Security Secretary, who, in addition to serving a sentence in the United States for drug trafficking, allegedly participated in corruption schemes related to the sale of security equipment to public institutions.

She explained that, after leaving the federal government, García Luna created companies dedicated to marketing technology and specialized equipment. According to her, various agencies and state governments purchased those products.

Corruption, the constant

“When the investigation is done, it turns out that the equipment either never arrived or was at triple, quadruple or quintuple the price; that is, there was corruption in this sale,” she stated.

The President added that the resolution issued by the Secretariat of Anti-Corruption and Good Governance is related to those operations, as well as to other inquiries that remain open at the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic and other agencies.