Corruption Cases in the DEA Show the US Must Address Its Responsibilities in the Fight Against the ‘Narco,’ Sheinbaum Says

ByArturo Sánchez Jiménez and Alma E. Muñoz

This article by Arturo Sánchez Jiménez and Alma E. Muñoz originally appeared in the September 8, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Mexico City. Recent corruption cases among agents of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) show that that country must also address its own responsibilities in the fight against drug trafficking, President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo said this Tuesday at her usual press conference at the National Palace. She was responding to a question about whether the United States is doing “its part” on security cooperation.

We insist that they have a very important part to carry out over there, and not just keep mentioning Mexico.

President Claudia Sheinbaum

In that context, the president referred to a recent case in which DEA agents were arrested for corruption, insisting that Washington has pending matters to resolve on its own territory. She recalled that fentanyl trafficking from Mexico “has been reduced by more than 70 percent, acknowledged by them,” and stressed that methamphetamine is also produced in the United States, “so much so that there was a television series dedicated to it,” in addition to distribution and money laundering taking place there, “because there is more consumption over there.“

The head of the Executive highlighted that the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), Sara Carter, has acknowledged the need to address drug consumption as a public health problem. On Carter, she recalled that the official “recently released a document… very interesting, because in that document, for the first time, they recognize the need to address drug consumption as a national public health policy.”

She added that Carter visited Mexico, took an interest in the actions being undertaken in the country to address the causes of violence and prevent drug consumption, such as the Boxing for Peace program, and had planned to return soon, since she was also interested in the Mexico Sings (México Canta) program in the United States. “I don’t know how much progress they’ve made, but at least there is now an acknowledgment,” she stated, comparing that stance with the anti-drug campaign led by Nancy Reagan in the 1980s: “Now it is Sara Carter who acknowledges.”