Sheinbaum Denounces the 'Hypocrisy' of Those Who Defended García Luna and Now Distance Themselves
mexicosolidarity.com
The president tied Calderón's 'war on drugs' to a jump from 27 to more than 70 daily homicides, the Fast and Furious guns, and a state that took the Sinaloa Cartel's side.

This article by Anahí Del Ángel originally appeared in the August 28, 2026 edition of Contralínea, an independent Mexican investigative magazine.

The scheme of corruption and defrauding of the Mexican state headed by former Security Secretary Genaro García Luna exposes the “hypocrisy” of those who used to defend him and now distance themselves from him, considered President Claudia Sheinbaum, who recalled that, on top of that, the former official is detained by the US justice system over his ties to organized crime.

The president stressed that García Luna committed crimes while he was leading the misnamed “war on drug trafficking” as Security Secretary and later after he left the post.

She also condemned the security strategy of former President Felipe Calderón, and questioned that the fight against criminal groups was called a “war.” “When they call it a ‘war on drugs,’ what does ‘war’ mean? Those are conditions of exception that, by the way, were never declared.”

Sheinbaum Pardo maintained that, although a state of exception was never formally decreed, during that period the authorities acted outside the rule of law. “Back then: there was a criminal and there was permission to execute him — that is the truth.”

No war leads you to peace; peace is built with justice.

President Claudia Sheinbaum

She explained that, contrary to what happened back then, institutions today must follow a procedure that includes investigating crimes, assembling a case file, an arrest warrant, and bringing the alleged perpetrator before a judge.

“There’s an alleged criminal, well, there has to be an investigation, the opening of an investigation file at the Prosecutor’s Office, an arrest warrant from a judge, and the detention of the alleged criminal to bring him to trial — that is the law,” she said.

The head of the federal Executive also questioned the deployment of the Armed Forces during Calderón’s government, considering that there was no legal framework regulating their participation in security tasks: “The Army and the Navy were sent out without a law that allowed them to carry out those activities.”

This situation included the former secretary’s collaboration with the Sinaloa Cartel to combat other organizations: “They allied themselves with one criminal group against other criminal groups; that is, the Mexican state took the side of a criminal group, supposedly ‘because that way they would pacify.’ Just imagine!“

The president noted that the result of that strategy was an increase in homicides, going from 27 a day in 2006 to more than 70 during that six-year term: “That is why, in Calderón’s period, from 2006 to 2012, it goes from 27 homicides a day in 2006 to seventy-something homicides a day. That is the result of the war: more violence.”

She also recalled that one of the consequences of that period was that thousands of people grew up in a context of violence, while the deaths of civilians were presented as collateral damage: “The young people who grew up back then — well, a very large wave of violence was unleashed and a great many innocent people died in shootouts […] and, incredibly, as if there really were a war, they would say: ‘they’re collateral damage.’ Just imagine! Said by the president of the time, by the authority of the time.”

Another element she mentioned was the entry of weapons from the United States through the Fast and Furious operation, in which tracking devices were placed. However, she noted that these ended up in the hands of criminal groups: “Thousands of weapons entered Mexico, authorized by Mexican authorities, that ended up in the hands of criminal groups with greater firepower than they already had.”

Regarding the government of Enrique Peña Nieto, Sheinbaum considered that it maintained a similar strategy, although with a lower level of US interference than during the previous six-year term.

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