Mexican president threatens to sue Musk over ‘ridiculous’ claim she is controlled by drug cartels
Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum is considering legal action against Elon Musk after he made the “ridiculous” claim she has links to the country’s drug cartels.
Musk wrote on his X platform that the president was “saying what her cartel bosses tell her to say”, in response to a 2025 video of her discussing cartel violence.
His post followed the dramatic capture and killing of cartel leader Nemesio ‘El Mencho’ Oseguera by security forces over the weekend.
“We are considering whether to take legal action”, Sheinbaum said during her daily morning press conference on Tuesday, adding that government lawyers are currently reviewing the matter.
“These are ridiculous, baseless comments that stem from a lack of understanding of the national reality,” she declared.
In the 2025 video, Sheinbaum said a return to a “war on drugs” was not feasible. She said: “Returning to the war on drugs is not an option … it is outside the framework of the law.”
The military offensive on cartels led by former president Felipe Calderon led to a bloody fighting as gangs splintered, triggering a spiral of violence.
Sheinbaum insisted on Tuesday that the operation to oust El Mencho was not a break from her policy of prioritising peace.
“The detention of a suspected criminal with an arrest warrant can generate this type of circumstance, but we are looking for peace, not war,” she said.
El Mencho, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), was killed on Sunday in an unprecedented military raid by the Mexican army.
The US, which provided intelligence support for the raid, has been pressuring Sheinbaum to do more to crack down on the cartels, with president Donald Trump threatening unilateral military action in Mexico.
Sheinbaum could face difficulty suing Musk for defamation in the US because of strong legal protections for free speech.
To prevail in a defamation case against Musk in the US, Sheinbaum would need to prove Musk knowingly said something false about her or recklessly disregarded the truth when he said it.
Musk was unsuccessfully sued for defamation in 2018, after he suggested that a British rescue diver who was instrumental in the rescue of 12 children trapped in a cave in Thailand was a paedophile.
Plaintiff Vernon Unsworth had sought $190 million in damages after the Tesla CEO called him “pedo guy” in a tweet that Musk later deleted and apologised for.
Musk argued in court that the remark to Mr Unsworth was a “common insult” in South Africa, where he grew up.
“This verdict sends a signal, and one signal only – that you can make any accusation you want to, as vile as it may be and as untrue as it may be, and somebody can get away with it,” Mr Unsworth’s lawyer told reporters as the verdict was made in December 2019.
The Independent approached Elon Musk’s Tesla for comment.
