Mexico’s hidden war: The battle between cartels and corrupt officials

Recent revelations about cartel extermination camps in Mexico have laid bare the chilling reality of organized crime’s deep entanglement with corrupt officials. As Foreign Affairs highlights, this shadowy alliance fuels violence and impunity, posing a critical challenge to President Claudia Sheinbaum’s efforts to restore law and order in the country.

Beneath the headlines of violent cartel clashes and drug busts lies a far more insidious conflict — one where state officials and criminal organizations are locked in a deadly, clandestine partnership that perpetuates violence and impunity. The recent uncovering of cartel extermination camps in Jalisco and Colima exposes not only the brutal capacity of Mexico’s organized crime but also the staggering failure of government institutions to protect their citizens. This grim reality underscores the defining challenge facing President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration: dismantling the entrenched networks of corruption that enable cartels to thrive.

The discovery of gruesome cartel-run extermination camps in early 2025 shocked the nation and the world. Parents searching for their missing children stumbled upon crematoriums, bone fragments, and personal effects—clear evidence of systematic cartel violence. Yet, when authorities finally acted, they did so with alarming negligence: evidence disappeared, key sites were tampered with, and investigations stalled. Reports that officials had prior knowledge of these camps but failed to act highlight the routine collusion between government actors and criminal groups. This is not an aberration but a symptom of Mexico’s deeply corrupted political and judicial system, where officials often calculate that cooperation with cartels yields more profit than punishment.

President Sheinbaum faces a pivotal moment in her tenure. Since taking office in October 2024, she has notably shifted away from her predecessor Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s (AMLO) “hugs not bullets” approach, adopting a more confrontational stance against cartels. Seizures of drugs and weapons have increased, arrests of mid-level cartel figures have risen, and even the extradition of major drug lords to the U.S. has accelerated. These moves have led to a reported decline in homicides, though disappearances and insecurity remain pervasive. Crucially, Sheinbaum’s push to centralize intelligence and enhance coordination among law enforcement agencies could signal a systemic change long overdue in Mexico’s fragmented federalist system.

Yet, her efforts are hampered by powerful resistance from within. The military, which amassed significant intelligence control under AMLO, is pushing back against reforms that threaten its influence. Morena, Sheinbaum’s own political party, harbours many officials allegedly tied to organized crime. The recent judicial reform further complicates matters by making judges elected officials, exposing them to political pressures that may hinder impartial prosecutions of cartel collaborators. Budget cuts to security exacerbate the challenge, forcing difficult trade-offs between social spending and law enforcement capacity.

Sheinbaum’s dilemma is clear: aggressively pursue corruption within her party and risk fracturing Morena, or maintain the status quo and allow impunity to persist. Her cautious messaging on cartel-state collusion reveals the political tightrope she must walk. However, external pressure—especially from the United States—could tip the scales. The Trump administration’s sanctions on corrupt politicians, visa revocations, and leveraging of cartel insider testimonies offer a potent tool to raise the costs of collusion. Unlike dramatic but largely symbolic drone strikes, these targeted measures could incentivize meaningful reforms without provoking a nationalist backlash.

The path ahead will be neither swift nor easy. Decades of cartel infiltration into Mexico’s political, judicial, and economic systems have created a vast web of complicity that cannot be undone overnight. Yet, if Sheinbaum can harness internal reforms alongside calibrated U.S. support, she stands a chance to disrupt the pernicious alliance between criminals and officials. In doing so, she could begin to reclaim the rule of law in a country where for too long, the state and the cartels have operated as two sides of the same coin.

By Vugar Khalilov