Sheinbaum agrees to freeze ex-officials' accounts hit by U.S. sanctions

Sheinbaum criticizes U.S. at rallies while complying with sanctions

MEXICO CITY—Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum began her workday at dawn last week by grilling her top security and intelligence officials inside the National Palace over their plan to freeze the local bank accounts of former Mexican officials the U.S. was preparing to sanction for alleged cartel ties. The president accused her security chiefs of going beyond the close cooperation with American law enforcement that has been the hallmark of her two-year tenure by taking for granted that the U.S. had solid evidence linking the former officials to drug cartels, according to people familiar with the discussion. She was unusually harsh with Security Minister Omar García Harfuch, a confidant who has guided her policies throughout her political career, the people said. Sheinbaum said that the U.S. measures were part of an effort to destabilize Mexico and her government, they added.

Sheinbaum ultimately consented. Refusing the freezes would likely have strained relations with Washington, where the Treasury Department announced sanctions last week on 21 individuals over alleged ties to the Sinaloa cartel. Among those sanctioned was Carlos Torres, the ex-husband of Baja California Governor Marina del Pilar Ávila, whom the U.S. Treasury described as a cartel-linked political operator with an alliance to a Sinaloa cartel boss operating in the border city of Mexicali. “Torres uses his political influence to facilitate cartel activities and protect the Sinaloa Cartel from government and law-enforcement intervention in Baja California,” the U.S. Treasury said on Monday. The U.S. said Torres received monthly payments to allow the cartel to operate with relative impunity in Baja California, and that his brother Luis was responsible for collecting the bribes and laundering the illicit funds through companies and political campaigns.

Torres was the then-husband of Ávila, the governor of the border state of Baja California. The State Department said the sanctions “highlight the corrosive reach of cartel influence into Mexican governance, particularly in Baja California.” The U.S. State Department revoked Torres’s visa in May 2025 and also revoked Ávila’s visa without disclosing the reason. Alberto Capella, who served as security chief of Tijuana and the states of Morelos and Quintana Roo, said revoking the visa of a governor of a Mexican border state “is a massive slap in the face, primarily because the U.S. is your main partner in every respect.” Ávila, who previously served as mayor of Mexicali, said she filed for divorce from Torres after the visa revocations. She was not among the sanctioned individuals, her spokesman said. Carlos Torres did not respond to requests for comment; Luis Torres could not be reached.

The episode captures a harsher public posture Sheinbaum is taking toward American counter-narcotics efforts on Mexican soil and the Trump administration’s targeting of her leftist party, Morena. In recent weeks, she has criticized the U.S. at mass rallies, citing the northern neighbor’s demand for narcotics and defending Mexican sovereignty as President Trump has repeatedly said Mexico is run by cartels. “We Mexicans don’t want interference, interventionism, or violations of our territorial integrity,” she said before tens of thousands of supporters in Mexico City’s central Zócalo square late last month. She has also confronted state governors from opposition parties who want to strengthen security cooperation with the U.S.

The Trump administration has separately indicted Rubén Rocha, the former governor of western Sinaloa state, on charges that he aided the cartel in exchange for bribes and political backing. Sheinbaum forced Rocha to resign but has consistently rejected a U.S. request for his extradition. “Let’s be clear: First they come for some, then for others, until offices of the Department of Justice decide elections in Mexico,” she said at a rally earlier this year. The administration has also revoked the U.S. visa of a son of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Sheinbaum’s mentor and predecessor.

Sheinbaum has criticized past U.S. Treasury sanctions against three Mexican financial institutions over money-laundering allegations. Mexican authorities detected irregularities in some accounts at those firms but found no evidence establishing links to criminal organizations, she said last week. Her administration took over the three institutions last year to prevent a run on deposits. The companies denied wrongdoing.

Mexico’s Financial Intelligence Unit said last week that it blocked the bank accounts of firms and individuals sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury as a preventive measure, after detecting “risky financial transactions and irregularities reported by financial institutions.” The unit made no reference to alleged links to organized crime. A spokesman for the unit declined to comment.

“Collaboration with the U.S. is a prerequisite for achieving results; when that collaboration is restricted or denied, it renders your work meaningless,” said Capella, who served as security chief of Tijuana and the states of Morelos and Quintana Roo. Capella said security officials face rising domestic political pressure to back off from corruption scandals. Morena leader Ariadna Montiel has said there is no room for corruption within the party, while adding that certain allegations aim to undermine Mexico’s sovereignty.

Ávila denied wrongdoing. The state of Baja California said in a statement that Ávila is legally divorced from Torres and that the only interest they share is the well-being of their son. Spokespeople for Sheinbaum and Security Minister García Harfuch, who has guided her policies throughout her political career, declined to comment.