Politics: Sheinbaum crafts a new and different public security policy
Although economic issues remain the main challenge Claudia Sheinbaum’s presidential administration faces, public security is a close second and perhaps more daunting problem and could be its Achilles heel. What appears clear is that former President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador’s policy of “hugs and not bullets” has been a dismal failure in terms of achieving the country’s pacification and has been implicitly abandoned by his successor.
Indeed, organized crime has expanded its control, and the population is aware of the threat to its personal security and lives. Sheinbaum’s strategy is to bolster the power and resources of the Ministry of Security and Citizen Protection with Omar García Harfuch, who has a background in law enforcement, at the helm.
In recent weeks the Ministry has launched a major campaign on several high-profile fronts against organized crime, particularly in the State of Mexico and Sinaloa.
This policy has been well received by society but has encountered below-the-radar resistance in certain political circles with ties to organized crime, including in the ruling Morena party.
García Harfuch is a particular source of conflict. He is distrusted by Morena’s more radical currents, as well as by AMLO, and does not have the backing of the military. Additionally, he has been hampered on several fronts. It will not be easy for him to overcome the obstacles that his detractors are putting in his way. But given the military’s lack of credibility, Sheinbaum needs García Harfuch, especially in light of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's interventionist stance, which in the case of public security centers on classifying drug cartels as terrorist organizations, with all that implies in terms of potential U.S. policy.
This will be a delicate balancing act for Sheinbaum. She must move against organized crime with García Harfuch in command, while trying to appease and diminish Trump’s anti-Mexican policies, and at the same time champion the Mexican nationalist discourse against any interventionist moves from Washington.
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