Former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar (2021–2025) stated on Wednesday that he has no proof linking Claudia Sheinbaum’s government to organized crime. “I have no evidence regarding anyone governing there, in Mexico [having such ties],” he noted via videoconference from Texas to a group of journalists gathered south of Mexico City. Salazar, 71, indicated that based on the information reaching him (“what is being said”), he believes the administration is working to combat corruption in the country. “Time will provide the conclusion. History always provides the conclusion,” the former ambassador declared.
Salazar arrived in Mexico under the Joe Biden administration and is a long-standing figure within the U.S. Democratic Party; he served as Secretary of the Interior under Barack Obama and as a senator for Colorado. He remained ambassador while Andrés Manuel López Obrador was still president of Mexico (2018–2024), though his tenure also overlapped for a couple of months with Sheinbaum after she took office.
On Wednesday, the former envoy presented the Spanish edition of his book ‘Borderlands: My Fight for a United America’ (MAPorrúa, 2026)—a memoir in which he discusses his experiences at the embassy and seeks to convey a message of a “new alliance” in North America based on inclusion. “In the United States, we are in a major political crisis because the president [Donald Trump] is trying to divide the nation in a way I have never seen in my life,” he emphasized.
The former ambassador, who is of Mexican descent, called for internal unity in the United States to end that political crisis and asserted that the situation would change in the future. “We are going to change it in November [during the midterm elections] and we are going to change it in 2028 with a new president—man or woman,” he stated, in remarks with clear electoral overtones. He expressed his support for Sheinbaum’s policies when asked whether, under this new partnership, he would negotiate “with a government accused of having ties to organized crime.” “What I hear from President Sheinbaum is that she does not want corruption. That is also what the people of Mexico demand,” he noted.
Salazar’s recent tenure has come under scrutiny from the National Palace following accusations by Sheinbaum’s government that he lied about the circumstances surrounding the July 2024 arrest of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, the former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. In his memoirs, he denies U.S. government involvement in the case, whereas reports revealed that the FBI had the plane involved in the incident in its possession. “The truth is the truth. The truth lies in what I said in the book, and that is where the matter should rest. […] It should be celebrated as a victory for both Mexico and the United States,” the former envoy stated.
