⤵️ Drug and mining U-turns

As former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador — best known by his acronym AMLO — rose to power, his slogan “Abrazos, No Balazos” (Hugs, Not Bullets) became nationally famous, promising a different approach to cartels than that of his conservative predecessors, whose “war on drugs,” launched in 2007, triggered a sharp jump in violence across Mexico.

For a while, AMLO’s handpicked successor, President Claudia Sheinbaum, insisted that this would not change: “Going back to the war against narcos is not an option. First, because it is outside the law … because we cannot kill people without trial. And second, because it has only helped homicides and violence rise in Mexico,” the president said in November.

But this weekend’s operation against Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, leader of the Jalisco Nueva Generación cartel (CJNG), suggests that a policy change is indeed at play…

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