Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has threatened to sue Tesla CEO Elon Musk over his Cartel remarks. In a press conference recently, Sheinbaun said that she was “considering whether to take legal action” against the Tesla CEO. In an X post, Musk accused the Mexican President of parroting cartel directives, referencing her February 23, 2026, statement rejecting a militarized “war on narcos” as unlawful, despite Mexico’s recent operation killing top cartel leader El Mencho days earlier. He was responding to a video post misquoting the Mexican President saying that using force against cartels would breach human rights:

An X user shared a minute-long video of Sheinbaum where she is quoted saying “Returning to the war against the narco is not an option. First, because it is outside the framework of the law.” Replying to the post, Musk wrote: “She’s just saying what her cartel bosses tell her to say. Let’s just say that their punishment for disobedience is a little worse than a “performance improvement plan” …”.However, the Mexican embassy was quick to respond to the video where it said: “Context matters: the video being used is an old clip on legal theory, while yesterday’s operation was a massive strategic win.” Calling out the spread of misinformation in a recycled video, the embassy said “Recycling outdated clips to distract from a major blow to organised crime is how misinformation spreads. Don’t let them spin a victory into a conspiracy.”

Who was ‘El Mencho’

Oseguera Cervantes, better known as “El Mencho,” was a former police officer and Mexico’s most wanted man. The 59-year-old from Michoacan was killed last week. He had ties to organized crime for at least three decades. In 1994, he was tried for trafficking heroin in the US and served three years in prison.Around 2009, he founded the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which became Mexico’s fastest-growing criminal organisation. It moved cocaine, methamphetamines, fentanyl, and migrants to the United States.Oseguera faced multiple US indictments, with a $15 million reward for his arrest. The Trump administration designated his cartel and other foreign terrorist organisations a year ago.