Much of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Wednesday morning press conference was taken up by the presentation and discussion of the federal government’s electoral reform proposal, which will be submitted to Congress next week. (Read MND’s report here.)
During her Q&A session with reporters, Sheinbaum revealed that she spoke to U.S. President Donald Trump the day after Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes was fatally wounded during a military operation in Jalisco.
She also acknowledged that high-ranking Mexican and U.S. officials held a security meeting at the National Palace on Tuesday.
Sheinbaum reveals she spoke to Trump after operation targeting ‘El Mencho’
Sheinbaum said that Trump called her on Monday to ask her, “‘What’s happening in Mexico? How are things? Are you OK?'”
She said that the call — which took place the day after the death of “El Mencho” triggered a violent cartel reaction across 20 states — lasted eight minutes.
Sheinbaum said she spoke to Trump about the operation targeting “El Mencho” and mentioned to him that Mexico received intelligence from the U.S. government that assisted it.
She also said she told the U.S. president that bilateral security coordination is going “very well.”
“… That’s how it was, the short call, to see how things were in Mexico,” Sheinbaum said.
📞La presidenta @Claudiashein informó que anteayer sostuvo una llamada telefónica con Donald Trump en la que preguntó por la situación del país.
La mandataria dio a conocer que por el momento no contempla una reunión con el republicano. pic.twitter.com/s2DiGYbdAB
— Animal Político (@Pajaropolitico) February 25, 2026
She said that she and Trump currently have no plan for a bilateral, in-person meeting.
The operation against Oseguera in an exclusive residential estate in Tapalpa, Jalisco, on Sunday came as the Trump administration continues to pressure Mexico to do more to combat cartels and the narcotics they traffic to the United States.
“Mexico must step up their effort on Cartels and Drugs!” Trump wrote on social media the day after “El Mencho” was killed.
During his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, he appeared to play up the United States role in the operation against Oseguera, saying “we’ve also taken down one of the most sinister cartel kingpins of all — you saw that yesterday.”
On Tuesday, National Action Party (PAN) Senator Lilly Téllez claimed that U.S. pressure on Mexico was the motivation for the operation targeting Oseguera, who was wanted in both Mexico and the United States.
“I regret that Sheinbaum took action against ‘El Mencho’ solely because of pressure from the U.S. government. Across all of Mexico, we know that this operation was carried out because the U.S. government was exerting pressure and pointing out that cartels rule Mexico,” she said in the Senate.
“Sheinbaum was forced to do something because she could no longer withstand the pressure. It’s a shame that Sheinbaum doesn’t act out of conviction,” Téllez said.
The PAN senator is in favor of the U.S. military coming into Mexico to combat cartels, and has asserted that “the cartels are partners of Morena,” the party that was founded by former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador and which Sheinbaum represented in the 2024 presidential election.
Last year, Sheinbaum rejected an offer from Trump to send the U.S. Army into Mexico to fight cartels.
The US ambassador and drug czar met with Mexican officials
Sheinbaum noted that U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ron Johnson and Sara Carter, director of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), met with members of the federal government’s security cabinet on Tuesday.
“It was a friendly meeting,” she said, adding that it was not organized “recently,” but had been planned for some time.
Productive meeting with @ONDCP Director @SaraCarterDC and @GobiernoMX officials to advance the historic cooperation led by @POTUS @realDonaldTrump and President @Claudiashein. We are working together to stop the scourge of fentanyl and dismantle the networks that poison our… https://t.co/ZsvahLAV5m pic.twitter.com/RQ3s3bZ32F
— Embajador Ronald Johnson (@USAmbMex) February 25, 2026
The meeting was held as part of the security “understanding” Mexico has with the United States,” Sheinbaum said.
The president, who said she didn’t attend the meeting, acknowledged that Carter congratulated the Mexican government for the operation against “El Mencho.”
“That’s what they told me this morning,” she said, referring to members of the security cabinet.
The cabinet — which includes Mexico’s military leaders, the security and interior ministers and the federal attorney general — said on social media that the “high-level meeting” was “very productive.”
The cabinet said that Mexico and the U.S. reaffirmed their commitment to “bilateral collaboration for the benefit of our nations within a framework of respect for sovereignty and cooperation based on mutual trust.”
Johnson said on social media that the U.S. and Mexico are “working together to stop the scourge of fentanyl and dismantle the networks that poison our communities.”
The ONDCP said that Carter and Johnson “met with Mexican military and security leadership to commend them on the successful operation targeting Nemesio ‘El Mencho’ Oseguera Cervantes.”
“‘El Mencho’ led Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), a Foreign Terrorist Organization responsible for trafficking illicit drugs into the United States and threatening our national security. President Trump is delivering on his promise to strengthen our national security and save American lives!” Carter’s office added in a social media post.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
