Mexico in January 2026: the most important developments in security
Mexico's security news in January 2026 centered on relations with the United States over drug cartels. On 9 January President Donald Trump announced ground attacks against cartels, and reports said Washington was pressing Mexico to allow US forces to fight them. On 16 January President Claudia Sheinbaum firmly rejected any US military involvement and said Mexico will handle its own security. The same day the US Federal Aviation Administration warned airlines of possible military activity over Mexico and Central America without naming any country's forces. Mexico's government said there had been no change to its airspace rules and that the notice was a standard advisory. Trump later said he did not insist on US agents entering Mexico, and the two countries agreed to hold high-level security talks in Washington in February.
On 20 and 21 January Mexico sent 37 cartel suspects to the United States at the request of the US Justice Department, including a Gulf Cartel leader and a supplier of weapons to the CJNG cartel. Sheinbaum called it a sovereign decision. A separate US sanctions list targeted several Mexican politicians for alleged links to drug trafficking. On 29 January it was reported that a secret FBI operation that arrested an alleged drug lord had strained relations, and Sheinbaum publicly disputed the FBI director's account of the arrest of a professional snowboarder.
Mexican authorities also captured a leader of the 'Crazy Group' criminal organization in Ecatepec, and a fugitive wanted by the FBI was arrested in Mexico. On 29 January a Canadian mining company confirmed the mass kidnapping of its employees in Concordia, Sinaloa, while another firm said 10 workers were taken.
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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