Natalie Kitroeff

Does the government decide to keep pushing on an offensive against the Jalisco cartel, given the stakes and the pressure the government is under from the United States, from the Trump administration?

We'll be right back.

Marie and Jack, I think one of the biggest questions hanging over all this is just given how long this cartel's power has been steadily expanding and how well known the problem of it has been, why did the Mexican government do this at this moment?

Why now?

Right.

And just say how the threat of the U.S.

military coming in and doing a strike in Mexico is perceived in the country and by the government specifically.

And it should be said, this isn't just an idle threat that Trump is making at this point, right?

This is a president who has literally just gone into Venezuela and ousted the president by force with a military operation.

So it feels like what the Mexican government is dealing with at this point isn't just rhetoric.

It's actually a real possibility.

So we have this picture of a Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, who's under immense pressure to take action.

But at the same time, she is someone who, as you've said, has already seemed to be more willing to confront the cartels than other Mexican leaders.

And so I wonder whether it's possible that the pressure from Trump is—

actually may in a sense be giving her political cover to do what she may want to do anyway.

Like maybe she would have faced some resistance from all these politicians who are in bed with the cartels.

Now she can point to Trump and say, look, I have no choice.

Jack, you said that the violence in response to El Mencho's killing died down quite quickly.

And I want to ask about that because that was actually one of the most surprising things to me, that the violent response from the cartel didn't last longer.

And I wonder if you think it's possible that the cartel moderated their response to their leader's death because they worried that making the country look too out of control might give Donald Trump...