MI’s Mexico Foreign Press Chatter, Apr. 17, 2025
Foreign press coverage
A WSJ report,, criticized by many in Mexico as trivializing a serious issue,, on “national sex symbol” Omar García Harfuch is the latest of several recent profiles of the federal security chief in the international press, which seems to have as much of a crush on him as the Mexican public. Harfuch’s appeal, blending “law enforcement, celebrity and fantasy into a single persona”, is compared to other attractive politicians like Enrique Peña Nieto and Governor Samuel García; no mention is made of Genaro García Luna, another top cop who once inspired similar accolades (though no shirtless merch) before his steep fall from grace. Harfuch’s presidential potential, which was clear long before the latest viral adoration, is also briefly touched on in the piece, though it fails to recognize that his family’s “pedigree” (his father was head of the DFS and his grandfather was defense minister during Tlatelolco massacre) could prove more of a liability than an asset. Harfuch wasn’t the only Mexican official to get an international profile this week: the LA Times covered the rise of Roberto Velasco, perhaps controversially headlined as “a gay millennial”, becoming the country’s top diplomat, and President Sheinbaum was again included on Time’s 100 Most Influential People list.
In security news, Mexico’s missing got visibility with a report about the Sheinbaum administration’s struggle to address the crisis in the New York Times, and a story by AP chronicling the efforts of search collectives. Bloomberg covered the rescue of Taxco’s kidnapped mayor and his father, and Reuters reported on the US Treasury Department sanctions against Raymundo Ramos, a human rights activist in Nuevo Laredo who the US says is on the Cartel del Noreste payroll, allegedly to do PR for the cartel and discredit Mexican law enforcement.
On the political front, AP covered Sheinbaum’s “firmer stance” towards the Trump administration in response to the fifteenth death of a Mexican citizen in U.S. custody in just over a year; the president has called for full investigations into the deaths and said Mexico could take the issue to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights or the UN. The biggest national policy issue of the week, the move towards fracking to reduce Mexico’s reliance on natural gas imports, was covered in Bloomberg, framing Sheinbaum’s decision as a reluctant reversal of AMLO’s rigid anti-fracking position.
Notable blogs in English on Mexico
- Mexico Decoded, The Myth of Mexico’s Universal Healthcare System
- The Mexico Political Economist, Mexico greenlights fracking
In Mexico Decoded, Viri Ríos tackled Sheinbaum’s latest public health policy (allowing for more Mexicans to access IMSS hospitals), correcting the overblown praise of Mexico’s “universal” healthcare system by Americans suffering from president envy. The Mexico Political Economist covered the administration’s flip to fracking, described as “a substantial, and rare, U-turn from her own and her predecessor’s policy”, and how challenging it will be for the government to deliver on its goals.
Photo of the week
Online fans call him Mexico’s new ‘papacito’ or ‘papuch,’ variations on ‘hottie’ or ‘daddy.’
Henry Romero/Reuters
Other articles on Mexico
Mexico Has a Major Crush on Its Top Cop
12/04/26, WSJ, Robert P. Walzer
Mexico’s new top diplomat: A gay millennial and expert on U.S.
14/04/25, LA Times, Patrick J. McDonnell and Cecilia Sánchez Vidal
Sheinbaum on Time’s The 100 Most Influential People of 2026
15/04/2026, Time, Ioan Grillo
Claudia Sheinbaum’s War on Crime in Mexico Faces a Grim Reckoning: 133,000 Missing People
15/04/26, NYT, Emiliano Rodríguez Mega and Paulina Villegas
Citizen groups scour Mexican cartel lands for the missing
14/04/26, AP News, Eduardo Verdugo and María Verza
Mayor of Mexico’s Touristic Silver Town Taxco Rescued After Kidnapping
13/04/26, Bloomberg, Maya Averbuch
US alleges well-known Mexican human rights activist works for drug cartel
14/04/26, Reuters, Lizbeth Diaz
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Takes Firmer Stance with Trump Administration
14/04/26, AP, Megan Janetsky and Will Weissert
Sheinbaum Eyes Fracking Plan in Mexico to Lessen Reliance on US Imports
15/04/26, Bloomberg, Alex Vasquez
Mexico Central Bank Taps Aldo Heffner to be New Chief Economist
11/04/26, Bloomberg, Alex Vasquez and Gonzalo Soto
Federal Officials Bust Family-Run Drug Business with Links to Mexican Cartel, Prosecutors Say
14/04/26, Los Angeles Times, Jasmine Mendez
Mexico makes strong start at Archery World Cup opener, LA Games in sight
12/04/26, Reuters, Angelica Medina
Download PDF: Mexico Foreign Press Chatter 17.04.26
