Is Mexico’s President in Bed with the Cartels?
No. The answer is no, but the explanation requires more than a headline.
A few days ago, I traveled to Los Cabos to give a talk to a group of financial advisors. In the lobby, a woman approached me and remarked that Mexico could never truly “develop” because it was a narco-state.
The comment was striking. Hearing that sentiment from ignorant and incendiary MAGA commentators is one thing, but hearing it from investors actively operating in Mexico really concerned me.
That is why I decided to use this week’s Mexico Decoded essay to address what a narco-state actually is, how corruption between authorities and criminal groups functions in Mexico, and why, despite the existence of such arrangements in certain regions, it is inaccurate to describe the Mexican state as being run by drug traffickers.
