MONTERREY — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has extradited nearly 100 suspected cartel members to the United States since 2025 and launched multiple operations targeting cartel leadership over the past year. Her government has continued the kingpin strategy of removing cartel bosses, an approach that has guided Mexico's security policy since December 2006.

The continuation of the strategy has come under pressure from the United States. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened action if Mexico fails to confront its cartels aggressively, imposed steep tariffs on Mexican exports, and hinted at a possible military assault on Mexican soil to eradicate criminal networks. "We must recognise the epicentre of cartel violence is Mexico. The United States government will do whatever's necessary to defend our national security," Trump said.

The kingpin strategy dates to December 2006, when Mexico declared its war on drugs and deployed thousands of troops to confront cartels. Four successive administrations have pursued the approach. Within weeks of taking office, then-President Felipe Calderon deployed 6,500 troops and police officers to Michoacan, and at the height of his campaign about 96,000 troops were on active duty against cartel violence and drug trafficking.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who took office in 2018, initially embraced a "hugs, not bullets" policy to de-escalate violence. During his six-year term, Lopez Obrador expanded military participation in public security to include civilian duties such as immigration enforcement, port oversight, and infrastructure building, while mostly avoiding direct crackdowns on major drug lords.

In July 2024, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, was arrested in Texas. On September 9, 2024, a power struggle broke out within the cartel. Homicides in Sinaloa rose from 44 in August 2024 to 142 the following month, and 1,657 people were killed in the state in 2025. Sabuesos Guerreras, a group that searches for missing people in Culiacan, Sinaloa, estimates 5,800 people have disappeared in the state since July 2024.

In February 2026, the Mexican military killed Nemesio "El Mencho" Oseguera Cervantes, leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. At least 70 people were killed in the initial outburst of violence that followed, more than 250 roadblocks were erected across Mexico, and violence spread across roughly 20 states.

Bernardo Leon Olea, a former security commissioner in Morelia, Michoacan, questioned the effectiveness of the approach. "You don't stop paying extortion. Drugs are still being sold near your home. There's still crime, corruption. Because you're not dismantling the criminal organisation," he said. Leon Olea said external factors were shaping the policy. "There is a very strong external pressure from the United States, forcing the government to produce results, which may not have a real impact on insecurity. But they serve to appease the desires of the US," he said.

Laura Atuesta, an economist who led the drug policy programme at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics, said the focus on leaders neglected wider populations. "In that sense, it's as if we're forgetting about a large part of Mexico and handing that population over to criminals," she said.