US pushes Mexico to prosecute politicians with ties to drug cartels

MEXICO CITY - The Trump administration is pressuring Mexico to investigate and prosecute politicians with suspected links to organized crime, and to extradite them to the United States if there are criminal charges to answer there, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The requests - raised at least three times by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his team in bilateral meetings and conversations with Mexican officials - seek to push President Claudia Sheinbaums government to investigate current elected officials and launch an unprecedented crackdown on narco corruption, four people familiar with the matter said.

In their discussions, the U.S. officials have called for action against several politicians from Sheinbaums own Morena party and threatened to levy further tariffs if Mexico did not take action, two of the sources said.

The conversations have not been previously reported.

President Donald Trumps administration has justified its declarations of tariffs on Mexico on the growing influence of the cartels over the government.

A crackdown - potentially targeting high-ranking elected officials while they are in office - would mark a dramatic escalation of Mexicos efforts against drug corruption. But it carries political risks for Sheinbaum, as some of the allegations involve members of her own party, a member of her security cabinet told Reuters.

The U.S. first raised the request at a meeting in Washington on February 27 led by Rubio and Mexican Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente, the four people familiar with the matter said. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and other officials from the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice as well as Treasury attended the meeting, the four people said. Mexicos Attorney General Alejandro Gertz and Secretary of Security Omar Garcia Harfuch were also at the meeting.

The Mexican Presidency, foreign ministry, Attorney Generals Office and Security