Sheinbaum Reportedly Rebuked Security Chief García Harfuch Over Freezing Accounts of Men the U.S. Ties to the Sinaloa Cartel — Including Baja Gov. Marina del Pilar’s Ex-Husband, WSJ Says
President Claudia Sheinbaum reportedly rebuked her security and intelligence officials, and was especially harsh with Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch, over plans to freeze the bank accounts of people the U.S. Treasury had just sanctioned as allies of the Sinaloa Cartel. That group includes Carlos Torres Torres, ex-husband of Baja California Gov. Marina del Pilar Ávila. The Wall Street Journal reported the account on Oct. 6, 2026, citing people familiar with the discussion, and Infobae and La Silla Rota summarized it the same day and on Oct. 7. Neither the president nor García Harfuch has confirmed it. Spokespeople for both declined to comment to the WSJ.
What the WSJ says happened
According to Infobae’s account of the WSJ story, by Santiago Pérez, the meeting took place at dawn at the National Palace the week before the report. Sheinbaum allegedly said her officials had simply assumed Washington had “pruebas sólidas” (“solid evidence”) and that the U.S. measures were part of an effort to destabilize Mexico and her government. In the end she reportedly approved the freeze, which the WSJ said she could not refuse without straining relations with the United States.
The accounts that were frozen
On Sept. 29, Treasury sanctioned 21 people and 25 entities it ties to the Los Mayos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. They include Carlos Torres, his brother Luis Alfonso Torres Torres, and Pedro Ariel Mendívil García, Mexicali’s former police chief, whom the U.S. accuses of taking bribes, La Silla Rota reported. Mexico’s Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) then blocked accounts of Torres and others, citing risky transactions reported by banks. “El bloqueo es una medida financiera y no constituye, por sí mismo, una sentencia penal” (“The freeze is a financial measure and is not, in itself, a criminal sentence”), the UIF said.
Carlos Torres has previously denied any tie to organized crime. The governor’s office says she is legally divorced from him and is not on the sanctions list. No one in this group has been criminally charged in Mexico.
Meanwhile in Baja California
Separately, Baja California’s anti-corruption office confirmed on Oct. 6 that state agencies had signed contracts with companies named by Treasury, Zeta reported. Officials said they are reviewing every contract since Ávila took office in November 2021 and will release no figures until the review ends. Infobae reports that some of those sanctioned are accused of taking bribes to protect the cartel at border crossings in Tijuana and Mexicali, across from Calexico.
La Opinión’s video report on the WSJ story:
Sources
- Infobae: “Tensión en Palacio Nacional: Sheinbaum habría cuestionado a García Harfuch por congelar cuentas, según The Wall Street Journal” (Oct. 7, 2026)
- La Silla Rota (Laura Stefany Hernández): “Sheinbaum cuestionó bloqueo de cuentas por sanciones de EU” (Oct. 6, 2026)
- Zeta (Arath Castillo): “Confirman contratos entre dependencias e instancias estatales con empresas señaladas por la OFAC” (Oct. 6, 2026)
- La Opinión (YouTube): “WSJ: Sheinbaum reprende a su gabinete por actuar con señalamientos de EE.UU.” (Oct. 7, 2026)
- Photos: Raquel Cunha/Reuters, via Infobae
Reported Oct. 7, 2026, from Mexican press accounts of a Wall Street Journal report based on unnamed sources. The meeting has not been officially confirmed. U.S. sanctions are civil measures, not criminal charges, and the people named are presumed innocent.