Here is our Sociedad Media Now daily newsletter with this Wednesday’s top stories on regional security across LatinAmerica & the fight against organized crime.
Hegseth Says U.S. Will Take Anti-Cartel Campaign From the Water Onto Latin American Soil
PANAMA CITY — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told coalition partners in Panama the U.S. is extending its lethal boat-strike campaign onto land, saying it will have “the same effect” as boat strikes that killed over 200 suspected traffickers in Caribbean waters and the Eastern Pacific.
With a formal plan due by November and Colombia now authorizing joint military operations as part of its accession to the 19-nation coalition, the escalation inherits the same legal and evidentiary questions that have already shadowed the maritime campaign it’s modeled on.
“We Had Said No”: Inside Sheinbaum’s Reversal on Sending Her Security Chief to a DEA Conference
MEXICO CITY — President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico revealed during Wednesday’s mañanera that her government initially planned to skip a DEA-organized security conference in Argentina before a unanimous cabinet vote opted to change course, sending Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch anyway.
Sheinbaum attempts to save face by framing her initial decision around a lack of trust of DEA, calling Mexico’s participation in the conference “coordination without subordination.”
Sheinbaum insists her government’s strategy is working, and vows “not to lower our heads” in the face of U.S. pressure to crack down on drug cartels.
Michoacán Wakes Up to Roadblocks & Burning Vehicles After Overnight Operation Against CJNG
MICHOACÁN — Organized crime groups set up at least 11 roadblocks and burned vehicles across Michoacán Wednesday morning, an apparent retaliation for an overnight federal operation against CJNG — nearly identical to the wave that hit these same municipalities on August 1 after the arrest of “Poncho la Quiringua.”
