For Mexico's security chief El Mencho killing was personal

MEXICO CITY, March 5 (Reuters) - Mexico's security chief, the man who helped lead the operation that killed the drug ⁠lord known as "El Mencho," spends his days and nights inside fortified office buildings, including a one-bedroom apartment in the security ministry built for him. Read full story People arrive to the Recinto de la Paz cemetery, where, according to local media, the body of cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” who was killed on February 22 in a military operation in the state of Jalisco, was brought following his wake, in Zapopan, Mexico, March 2, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer MEXICO CITY, March 5 (Reuters) - Mexico’s security chief, the man who helped leadthe operation that killed the drug ⁠lord known as “El Mencho,” spends his days and nights inside fortified office buildings, including a one-bedroom apartment in the security ministry built for him.His quarters – inside a modern complex beside a busy thoroughfare – include a bedroom, gym, kitchen and a conference room that seats 25. From the living room, ⁠guests can hear the crack of gunfire from a firing range within the building complex, according to a high-ranking government official who has visited the apartment. A red telephone on his desk provides a direct line to the president.Omar Garcia Harfuch, 44, has lived this ‌way since 2020, when on his commute to work a truck cut off his armored Suburban and gunmen disguised as road workers sprayed his vehicle with more than 400 bullets. Harfuch returned fire and survived with three gunshot wounds. Two of his bodyguards and a bystander were killed.The security chief blamed the assassination attempt on Nemesio Oseguera, 59, better known as El Mencho, leader of the brutal Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of Mexico’s largest and bloodiest crime groups. Six years later, bringing down the cartel leader was a deeply personal moment for Harfuch, who friends say was devastated by his security guards’ deaths.Harfuch declined to comment for this story. The account is based on interviews with a dozen friends, colleagues and security analysts.Those close to Harfuch say that he's unlikely to let his guard down now ​that El Mencho is gone. But the death of the kingpin has lifted the profile of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Minister of Security and Citizen Protection, who’s credited with spearheading her more muscular ⁠approach to fighting cartels, so much so he’s considered an early frontrunner for the presidency when her six-year term ends ⁠in 2030.“Omar Garcia Harfuch is the number one presidential candidate today,” said Armando Vargas, the top security expert at the think tank México Evalua. “He is the most visible leader of this new strategy.”The approach is not without risks: El Mencho’s death triggered a wave of violence across Mexico that killed 25 National ⁠Guard ‌members and could fuel deadly feuds as rival cartel factions fight for control.It’s also a marked departure from former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s “hugs not bullets” philosophy, under which cartels grew in power and reach to control vast swaths of territory and diversified from drugs into extortion, human trafficking, and contraband fuel.TRUSTED BY THE PRESIDENTHarfuch rose to prominence within the Mexico City government when now-President Sheinbaum was the capital’s mayor.Rodrigo Canales, who advised Sheinbaum on her security strategy, said Harfuch helped her navigate a difficult period early in her mayoral tenure when high-level police officers were accused of corruption.“He has Claudia’s absolute trust and earned it by being extremely ⁠loyal and effective in key moments early in her mayorship,” Canales said.Sheinbaum promoted Harfuch to head of the city’s police in 2019 after sacking his predecessor over ​a money laundering scandal.Harfuch had been in the job for under a year when assassins made the attempt on ‌his life. After initially returning fire, he scrambled into the back seats of his armored SUV and crouched down until reinforcements could arrive, he recalled in interviews after the attack. Twelve alleged members of the Jalisco cartel were arrested and given life sentences.Following the ambush, he moved ⁠out of his house and into Mexico City’s police ​headquarters. His inner circle, already small, became even tighter. He sees his children in fleeting moments."He went from someone who could go to a restaurant, meet friends, attend a colleague's birthday party, to being guarded in an office, spending practically 90 percent of his life inside police buildings," said a friend who has known Harfuch for 20 years.Like the cartel bosses he hunts, one misstep could cost him his life.FOLLOWING IN FAMILY FOOTSTEPSHarfuch comes from a line of Mexican top brass.His grandfather, Marcelino Garcia Barragan, was defense minister in the 1960s while his father, Javier Garcia Paniagua, was a senator and presidential contender who led a federal security agency in the 1970s.That mix of police and military heritage is rare in Mexico and puts Harfuch in a unique position ⁠to lead the country’s heavily militarized public security structure, two sources who’ve worked with him say.“Garcia Harfuch was sort of destined to follow in his father and grandfather’s ​footsteps,” said Gladys McCormick, a profess