Sheinbaum’s mañanera in 60 seconds
- 🔒 Sinaloa officials in U.S. custody pose ‘no risk’: Sheinbaum said she sees zero risk from declarations that former Sinaloa Security Minister Gerardo Mérida Sánchez and former Finance Minister Enrique Díaz Vega could make to U.S. authorities.
- 🇺🇸 No risk of Morena being designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government: Asked about the possibility following U.S. charges against officials linked to the president’s political party, Sheinbaum flatly dismissed it, reiterating that her government makes no pacts of any kind with criminals.
- 🔫 U.S. should focus on its own problems first: Sheinbaum said the best way Washington can help Mexico fight organized crime is by reducing domestic drug consumption and stopping the flow of weapons into Mexico.
- 🗳️ Second judicial elections proposed for 2028: Sheinbaum said her government will ask Congress to push back the next judicial elections from 2027 to 2028 to avoid a scheduling clash with municipal, state and federal elections already set for June of next year.
Why today’s mañanera matters
At her Monday morning press conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum responded to the news that two former officials who served in the Sinaloa state government led by Governor Rubén Rocha Moya are now in U.S. custody.
In addition, she ruled out the possibility of the U.S. government designating Morena as a terrorist organization due to the alleged involvement in drug trafficking of some officials and politicians affiliated with the ruling party.
US charges Sinaloa governor, 9 state officials with drug trafficking
Sheinbaum has repeatedly defended the party that backed her at the 2024 presidential election, and on Monday declared that her government — represented in Congress by Morena — doesn’t make pacts of “any kind” with criminals. She acknowledged that U.S. President Donald Trump has asserted that cartels rule Mexico, but said he has never made the claim in the conversations she has had with him, including one last Friday.
Today’s mañanera was also significant as Sheinbaum revealed that the government wants to postpone Mexico’s second judicial elections so they don’t clash with congressional, gubernatorial and mayoral elections that will take place next year.
Sheinbaum: ‘No risk’ of US authorities designating Morena as a terrorist organization
A reporter asked the president what “risk” she saw as a result of declarations that former Sinaloa Security Minister Gerardo Mérida Sánchez and former Sinaloa Finance Minister Enrique Díaz Vega could make to U.S. authorities.
The two men were detained in the United States last week. Mérida and Díaz, along with eight other Sinaloa-based current and former officials, including Governor Rocha Moya (currently on leave), are accused in the same of indictment of drug trafficking in league with the Sinaloa Cartel.
Sheinbaum responded that she saw “no risk” in declarations that Mérida and Díaz could make to U.S. authorities.
“None,” she added.
“It was their decision to turn themselves in and there is no risk, none,” Sheinbaum said, apparently dismissing the possibility that Mérida and Díaz could implicate other officials and politicians affiliated with Morena, the ruling party founded by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Asked whether there was a “risk” that the United States could designate the Morena political party as a terrorist organization due to its “alleged links” to cartels, Sheinbaum paused for a moment before responding.
“No. No risk,” she said.
In early 2025, the U.S. government designated six Mexican cartels, including the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, as foreign terrorist organizations.
U.S. officials, including acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Drug Enforcement Administration chief Terrance Cole, have recently indicated that U.S. prosecutors will press charges against more Mexican officials.
Sheinbaum: US authorities should focus on US, not Mexico
Sheinbaum told reporters that the “best way” that U.S. authorities can help Mexico in the fight against organized crime is by working to reduce drug use in the United States and stopping the flow of guns into Mexico.
#MañaneraPresidenta | “Es parte de su narrativa”. Claudia Sheinbaum afirmó que el discurso sobre la “narcopolítica” proviene de medios estadounidenses y recordó el caso de Genaro García Luna durante el gobierno de Felipe Calderón.
Reiteró que EE.UU. debe atender el consumo de… pic.twitter.com/fXo3ZyUq1l
— Juncal Solano (@juncalssolano) May 18, 2026
“That’s the best way,” she said. “… And combating the cartels that operate in the United States because, as I’ve said, who distributes the drugs in the United States? Who sells the drugs in the United States?”
After declaring that her government isn’t going to protect anyone who has committed a crime, Sheinbaum questioned why U.S. officials “are so interested in Mexico” — a reference to their apparent intent to press charges against more Mexican politicians.
They should attend to problems in the United States first, she said.
“What do they need to attend to first and foremost? The use [of drugs], the entry of weapons [to Mexico],” Sheinbaum reiterated.
“Why do organized crime groups [in Mexico] have high-powered weapons? Where do they come from? According to the U.S. Department of Justice itself, 75% [of the weapons used by cartels in Mexico] come from the United States,” she said.
Sheinbaum proposes postponing judicial election to 2028
Early in her press conference, Sheinbaum said her government would submit a proposal to Congress to postpone Mexico’s second judicial elections to 2028.
She said that her new legal adviser, Luisa María Alcalde, recommended holding the judicial elections in 2028 rather than in 2027, when municipal, state and federal elections will be held. Sheinbaum said that the recommendation was due to the large number of positions that will be up for grabs at the elections in June 2027.
She said that if judicial elections were held in 2027 on the same date as municipal, state and federal elections, voters would have to cast ballots at two separate polling places.
“So we’re making a proposal to Congress … to move the [judicial] elections to 2028,” Sheinbaum said.
Mexico held its first-ever judicial elections on June 1, 2025. Those elections — at which almost 2,700 judges and magistrates, and nine Supreme Court justices were elected — were held as a result of a controversial judicial reform that was promulgated in September 2024 just before López Obrador left office.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
