Mexico is swooning over its top cop — and buying the merch to prove it.
Miniature dolls, plush toys nicknamed “Harfuchitos” and flannel blankets bearing the often shirtless image of Security Minister Omar García Harfuch have surged in popularity after the Feb. 22 raid that killed Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
The 44-year-old official, who is usually seen briefing the nation in a dark suit, now appears on cushions, towels, party decorations and cardboard cutouts in markets across Mexico — and as a Batman-themed doll, as well.
And it’s not only merchandise that is proliferating. On TikTok and other platforms, AI-generated images show the politician promoting products such as hair oil, and apps let users create photos of themselves hugging García Harfuch or lying with him on the grass.
On Mercado Libre, Latin America’s largest e-commerce site, a García Harfuch blanket has ranked among the platform’s bestsellers, while Amazon has offered a bed-sized flannel throw emblazoned with his face.
A report by Reuters said demand now includes customized products printed in small shops as well as factory lines turning out up to 150 blankets a day, with orders spilling into the United States.
“He is Mexico’s crush,” said Carolina García, who sells García Harfuch merchandise she makes with her home printing business in the central state of Tlaxcala. “Of course, we get more orders from women, as gifts, but we’ve also gotten some orders from men.”
“All the ladies love him,” added designer Ingrid Rebeca Sánchez. “They want to sleep with him, they want to dry themselves off with him. He’s Mexico’s new daddy.”
However, the craze reportedly has a darker edge in the textile hubs of Moroleón and Uriangato, two municipalities in southern Guanajuato where huge clothing markets and street stalls dominate the landscape. There, some vendors have allegedly received warnings from organized crime not to sell items with García Harfuch’s image, according to the newspaper Milenio.
Towels selling for about 100 pesos (US $5.64) and travel blankets from 180 pesos (US $10.15) are often sold only on request.
The emergence of the Batman dolls ties into an older backstory, from 2022, when Green Party lawmaker Jesús Sesma referred to García Harfuch, then Mexico City’s citizen security chief, as a “superhero” and crafted a Batman-modified action figure that went viral and sparked memes.
That also established a template for García Harfuch as a vigilante-style protector that current vendors are now seizing upon.
The sudden merch push comes as early polls and analysts see García Harfuch as a potential presidential contender in 2030, when President Claudia Sheinbaum’s term will end.
With reports from Reuters, Milenio, El Financiero and Forbes México
