David Agren

Trump Orders Pentagon to Prepare to Target Drug Cartels in Latin America Options under discussion are focused on special forces operations, intelligence support and precision targeting, a senior U.S. official said.

Trump has directed the Pentagon to begin preparing options to use military force against Latin American drug cartels, the latest step in the administration’s campaign against the cartels.

Mexico’s Drug Cartels Bedevil Sheinbaum’s Dealmaking With Trump The Mexican president wants to reach an agreement with the U.S. to further cooperate on security, but she has been undermined by the cartels’ pervasive influence.

Mexico’s president wants to reach an agreement with the U.S. to further cooperate on security, but she has been undermined by the cartels’ pervasive influence.

Probably the first time that idle shitposting has resulted in concrete changes to an adversary’s nuclear posture.

Mexico grapples with Trump’s unrelenting demands President Sheinbaum’s personal rapport with the U.S. President hasn’t spared Mexico from tariffs or escalating demands

“I can’t think of another country” – spare China where – “the American wish list is as long and complicated as is the case with Mexico. The Canadian thing looks like peanuts compared to the case against Mexico.” www.theglobeandmail.com/world/articl...

Analysis: How Morena politicians hijacked gender laws to muzzle the press — The Mexico Brief. by David Agren, writer-at-large. Reporting on alleged irregularities in the municipal finances is routine for local media outlets the world over. Acapulco Trends recently focused its reporting on the statements from the superior auditor of Guerrero state, which found 898 million pesos of irreg

Acapulco mayor Abelina López found the reporting on municipal finances objectionable. But rather than counter it with audited statements, she filed claims of gender violence in politics. Astonishingly, the state electoral tribunal agreed with her accusation. www.themexicobrief.org/latest/how-m...

Exclusive | Justice Department Told Trump in May That His Name Is Among Many in the Epstein Files Attorney General Pam Bondi told the president that the department also decided to not release more Jeffrey Epstein documents because of the presence of child pornography and the need to protect victim...

Bahahahaha www.wsj.com/politics/jus...

An avid TMB reader!

Analysis: Sheinbaum’s monologue diplomacy is meeting Washington’s deaf ear — The Mexico Brief. by David Agren, writer-at-large. Shortly after rumours started that Ovidio Guzmán – son of imprisoned Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán – might plead guilty on drug traffickin...

Sheinbaum has successfully pushed gov’t narratives through a verbose morning press conference and an army of influencers. But the narrative of narco-gov’t in Mexico has been gaining hold in Washington – and talking ad nauseam in the mañanera won't change that www.themexicobrief.org/latest/shein...

La crisis de la presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum tuvo probablemente su peor viernes al tratar de defender a López Obrador de los señalamientos de probables vínculos con el crimen organizado.

"Su problema fue de origen, al convertirse durante dos meses en la única voz oficial contra las decisiones estadounidenses, pese a tener varios fusibles. Quien debió llevar la voz principal era el secretario de Relaciones Exteriores, que siempre está convenientemente ausente."

Analysis: Mexico’s democratic transition turns 25 - or only 7, if you ask Morena… — The Mexico Brief. by David Agren, writer-at-large. Morena supporters marked one of their movement’s many anniversaries on July 1: the seventh anniversary of the ruling party’s founder, former Andrés Manuel Ló...

Mexican democracy turned 25 this week, but the ruling Morena party barely acknowledged the milestone. That’s because, as @davidagren.bsky.social reports, for its loyalists only the last seven matter.

Analysis: There’s a lot more driving Mexico City’s gentrification than bad gringos — The Mexico Brief. by David Agren. The acerbic signs and graffiti criticizing gentrification in Mexico City’s fashionable neighbourhoods were certain to capture international attention.  “Spanish is s...

“The problem with the discussion about what's happening in Mexico City is that Sheinbaum’s people want to pretend they’re not involved in whatever they’ve done. They’ve controlled the city and its laws.”
www.themexicobrief.org/latest/there...

YouTube video by Aristegui Noticias CURP biométrica no encontrará a las personas ya desaparecidas: Jacobo Dayán

youtube.com/watch?v=u1EV...

"If international comparisons are made to justify the surveillance systems being created in Mexico, it would be honest to compare the control systems over their use in each country."

Reporting: Mexico’s government is using the disappeared to build a surveillance state, families say — The Mexico Brief. by Madeleine Wattenbarger. A polemical point of the reform to the General Disappearance Law passed by Mexican legislators this week is the use of a biometric CURP to search for missing people. The ...

Free today: “They are using us as pretext”: Mexico’s government is using the disappeared to build a surveillance state, victims’ families say in an exclusive report.

Analysis: Mexico’s democratic transition turns 25 - or only 7, if you ask Morena… — The Mexico Brief. by David Agren, writer-at-large. Morena supporters marked one of their movement’s many anniversaries on July 1: the seventh anniversary of the ruling party’s founder, former Andrés Manuel Ló...

“One of the arguments repeated” by PRD leaders while AMLO was the party’s biggest name “was that there could be no talk of democracy in Mexico if a candidate from the left wasn’t allowed to win the presidency.”

www.themexicobrief.org/latest/mexic...

The ruling against @hdemauleon.bsky.social, a very transparent attempt to abuse a law intended to combat gender violence with the goal of silencing critical reporting on corruption, is part of a larger, deeply worrying trend of judicial harassment against critical reporters in Mexico. 🧵2/3

AIRPLANE! was released 45 years ago today. Still one of the most beloved comedies ever made, and the film that turned Leslie Nielsen to comedy, the story of how it came to the screen surely can’t be serious…

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Analysis: New rules - The 4T ushers in the age of “plenitud del pinche poder” — The Mexico Brief. by David Agren. Former PRI governor Fidel Herrera passed away recently. He was remembered for a sordid administration in the late 2000s, when Los Zetas took over the state. As the discovery of a cl...

Free to read today: @davidagren.bsky.social on how Morena’s upcoming congressional agenda channels the infamous maxim of the late, scandal-ridden PRI ex-governor Fidel Herrera: “Estoy ahorita en plenitud del pinche poder.”

Sophie Turner loves wearing her slides with socks She’s not afraid of a fashion faux pas.

Chanclas *and* socks? Mexicans have been doing this forever! 🙄 pagesix.com/2019/08/21/s...

Update from Eric Schmitt

"Separately, a senior U.S. official who asked for anonymity acknowledged that the B-2 attack on the Fordo site did not destroy the heavily fortified facility but severely damaged it." www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06...

The Russian embassy in Mexico has been very active on social media and seemingly popular with some in the 4T

Analysis: Sheinbaum’s polished G7 visit was dimmed by small-beer politics — The Mexico Brief. by David Agren. President Claudia Sheinbaum stepped onto the world stage with her participation in this week’s Group of Seven Leaders’ Summit in the Canadian Rockies.  Sheinbaum sat down with the leaders of India, South Korea , Germany , the European Union, though suffered the

“Sheinbaum broke with AMLO’s approach to international affairs by actually attending the G7. She continued with the rest of his kabuki, however.” www.themexicobrief.org/latest/shein...

Tortured in Venezuela, he’s asking for asylum. ICE just detained him. Gregory Sanabria Tarazona was at a routine check-in in Houston on Thursday when he was detained and taken to an ICE processing center.

EXCLUSIVE/BREAKING Gregory Sanabria Tarazona, a Venezuelan activist tortured inside Nicolás Maduro's notorious El Heliocoide prison, is seeking asylum in the U.S. Weeks before his initial hearing, he was making a routine check-in when ICE detained him @schmidtsam.bsky.social reports

wapo.st/3HE9dwu

Bad timing and high stakes for potential Sheinbaum - Trump G7 meeting — The Mexico Brief. by David Agren. President Claudia Sheinbaum announced details of her trip to Canada next week for the Group of Seven Leader’s Summit in Kananaskis, a resort in the Alberta Rockies, and her first me...

Bad timing and high stakes hang over Claudia Sheinbaum’s trip to the G7. Once praised for deftly defusing Trump’s tariff threats, she’s stumbled of late. Next week’s summit offers a chance to regain her footing, as @davidagren.bsky.social reports.

Bad timing and high stakes for potential Sheinbaum - Trump G7 meeting — The Mexico Brief. by David Agren. President Claudia Sheinbaum announced details of her trip to Canada next week for the Group of Seven Leader’s Summit in Kananaskis, a resort in the Alberta Rockies, and her first me...

Canada extended Sheinbaum the #G7Summit invite ostensibly to talk trade and tariffs. …But thorny issues loom, including Mexican discontent with Trump’s migration crackdowns, his planned tax on remittances and the possible US pursuit of narco-politicians. www.themexicobrief.org/latest/trump...

Slums, swimming pools and Latin America’s inequality Its tax and welfare systems are shockingly bad at reducing inequality

Latin America’s tax and welfare systems are shockingly bad at reducing inequality. This has physical, political and economic implications for the region https://econ.trib.al/MzQW2uH

Whenever AMLO or Sheinbaum say the word "pueblo," they're talking about themselves

Analysis: Morena’s voter disconnect laid bare in judicial vote — The Mexico Brief. by David Agren. Former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador appeared in public for the first time in eight months to cast his ballot in the recent judicial elections. The man known as AMLO voted u...

Low participation showed that "contrary to what the ruling party publicly said, the judicial reform did not happen because people demanded it."
www.themexicobrief.org/latest/moren...

La elección judicial y el fin del cuento democrático Según la historiadora Elisa Servín " La elección judicial del domingo 1 de junio fue la culminación de esta voltereta histórica que nos devuelve a ese complejo mundo conducido en su momento por el rég...

Comparto por acá mi versión de lo que ocurrió el domingo 1 de junio. Agradezco a @jrlrc.bsky.social y a @dmiklos.bsky.social su lectura y comentarios.

La elección judicial y el fin del cuento democrático
redaccion.nexos.com.mx/la-eleccion-...