Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP/File
On Thursday, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin arrived at Mexico’s National Palace to meet with President Claudia Sheinbaum and her security cabinet.
The two-day official visit, arranged directly after a phone call between Sheinbaum and President Donald Trump, marks the first trip to Mexico this year by a senior official from the U.S. administration, News.Az reports, citing UPI.
The visit comes after federal prosecutors in New York filed narcotics trafficking charges against 10 current and former officials from the state of Sinaloa, including Gov. Rubén Rocha Moya, over alleged drug trafficking and weapons offenses.
According to the newspaper El Universal, it is the first time Washington has demanded the urgent arrest of sitting politicians by linking them directly to the Sinaloa cartel, triggering a political crisis in Mexico that continues to unfold.
Among those sought by U.S. authorities were former Security Secretary Gerardo Mérida Sánchez and former Finance Secretary Enrique Díaz Vega, both of whom voluntarily surrendered in mid-May.
U.S. officials have interpreted those surrenders as confirmation of organized crime infiltration within institutions in the northern Mexican state.
During her morning press conference before the meeting, Sheinbaum said both governments continue to coordinate under a bilateral security understanding reached recently, but stressed that Mexican sovereignty must be respected.
"Remember that an agreement was signed with the United States and we have been working very well under that understanding. All we want is for that cooperation to continue," she said.
According to Mexican media outlets, the diplomatic agenda includes two other sensitive issues.
One involves the recent deaths of two CIA agents in a car accident in the state of Chihuahua, which raised questions about the role of the intelligence agency in Mexico.
The other concerns Mexico's complaints over the deaths of 15 Mexican migrants while in custody at detention centers operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
After the private meeting with Sheinbaum, Mullin is expected to hold working sessions with Mexico's security cabinet focused on fentanyl trafficking, money laundering and arms smuggling.
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