At that moment, I argued that the very act of intervening in Venezuela became an act of propaganda aimed at aligning U.S. interests with the rest of the region<\/a>. Since then, mounting pressure has been directed at Colombia, Cuba, and Mexico\u2014three countries that certainly face serious problems related to security and drug trafficking, but which also have governments that run counter to the MAGA movement and its conservative agenda.<\/p>\nThis is where the role of the media becomes central. Presidents Trump and Sheinbaum diplomatically claim that relations between their countries are excellent. Yet both construct a communication system in which they use public interventions to send messages to one another. Trump, standing at the steps of his presidential aircraft, delivers a harsh or aggressive comment against Mexico and, hours later, the Mexican president responds during a public tour somewhere in the country. The following day, during her morning press conference, Sheinbaum speaks about non-interventionism, and then Trump replies with his now familiar and misogynistic interpretation of the Mexican president, claiming that if Mexico cannot solve its own problems, the United States will step in and do it. The media shorten distances and compress time, placing both leaders face to face within this political communication arena.<\/p>\n
In Mexico, pressure has intensified in recent weeks. Political timing is revealing. Today we wake up to the news that Trump\u2019s approval rating has dropped to just 34%, due in part to the consequences of the war against Iran and rising inflation. In this context, the U.S. government has accelerated its pressure on Mexico regarding security and the fight against drug trafficking. In recent weeks, it publicly accused the now-licensed governor of Sinaloa and more than a dozen additional officials. Evidence related to these accusations has been leaking gradually across different media outlets and digital platforms. In addition, CNN and The New York Times<\/em> released information about the alleged involvement of CIA agents in the killing of a criminal capo.<\/p>\nThese developments reveal another form of media operation: one in which public information\u2014certainly relevant information\u2014is supplied from the interest of one of the fighters in the arena seeking to damage an adversary. The ethics of media companies and journalists should involve weighing the greater public good in informational terms. However, in political struggles of the scale described here, everything seems to be fair game.<\/p>\n
Corruption within MORENA governments and their links to drug trafficking are undeniable. Nevertheless, a more sophisticated reading of the current situation requires going beyond that perspective alone. Anyone who sees only a process of law enforcement and criminal prosecution within the framework of the war on drugs, and not a complex process of power distribution in which the media also operate as political actors, will be missing a significant part of the analytical edge.<\/p>\n
This text was originally read on Informativo NTR Radio, broadcast on May 18, 2026, and hosted by journalist Sonia Serrano.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Juan Larrosa, May 18, 2026 Generally speaking, people tend to believe that the sole function of the media is to inform; from this perspective, their work focuses on the production of journalistic information about matters of public relevance. However, the media also fulfill other functions. One of them, which we call political communication arenas, refers to a mediated space… Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153,371,392,232],"tags":[442,441,438,440,439,435,436,437,163,394],"class_list":["post-2975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political-communication","category-propaganda-2","category-public-opinion","category-united-states-elections","tag-claudia-sheinbaum","tag-donald-trump","tag-drug-trafficking","tag-geopolitics","tag-latin-america","tag-media","tag-media-and-power","tag-political-arena","tag-political-communication","tag-propaganda","xfolkentry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2786,"url":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/en\/the-morning-press-conferences-and-sheinbaum\/","url_meta":{"origin":2975,"position":0},"title":"The Morning Press Conferences and Sheinbaum","author":"Juan S. Larrosa-Fuentes","date":"14 October, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"By Juan Larrosa, October 13, 2025 When Claudia Sheinbaum assumed the presidency, many analysts questioned whether she would maintain the practice established by Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador from 2018 to 2024: offering a daily morning press conference, Monday through Friday. One year later, the answer is clear \u2014 the former\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Media Observatories"","block_context":{"text":"Media Observatories","link":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/en\/category\/media-observatories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Comunicacion-publica-y-politica-en-tiempos-de-covid-19_Pagina_001-218x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2275,"url":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/en\/trump-zelensky-and-the-breakdown-of-diplomacy-and-political-communication\/","url_meta":{"origin":2975,"position":1},"title":"Trump, Zelenski, and the Breakdown of Diplomacy and Political Communication","author":"Juan S. Larrosa-Fuentes","date":"4 March, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"By Juan Larrosa, March 3, 2025 Today's piece is about last Friday at the White House during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenski's visit to Donald Trump. It is an unusual and unprecedented scene that signals a shift in diplomacy and political communication. After several negotiations, the United States proposed an agreement\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2836,"url":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/en\/the-limits-of-action-as-propaganda-the-case-of-public-insecurity\/","url_meta":{"origin":2975,"position":2},"title":"The Limits of \u201cAction as Propaganda\u201d: The Case of Public Insecurity","author":"Juan S. Larrosa-Fuentes","date":"25 January, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"By Juan Larrosa (January 26, 2026) A few days ago, Mexico\u2019s National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) released the most recent results of the National Urban Public Security Survey (ENSU). The data are not encouraging: in December 2025, 63.8% of the adult population reported feeling unsafe in the city\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Political Communication"","block_context":{"text":"Political Communication","link":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/en\/category\/political-communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2469,"url":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/en\/narcocorridos-as-a-form-of-propaganda\/","url_meta":{"origin":2975,"position":3},"title":"Narcocorridos as a Form of Propaganda","author":"Juan S. Larrosa-Fuentes","date":"8 July, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"By Juan Larrosa, July 7, 2025 The debate around narcocorridos has been present in the media, opinion columns, and policymaking forums. This raises many questions. Two seem especially relevant to me: What exactly are narcocorridos? And should the State regulate or even ban them? Here, I propose approaching the issue\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Political Communication"","block_context":{"text":"Political Communication","link":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/en\/category\/political-communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2213,"url":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/en\/euzen-la-covacha-and-indatcom-or-the-outsourcing-of-social-communication-during-alfaros-administration\/","url_meta":{"origin":2975,"position":4},"title":"EuZen, La Covacha and Indatcom or the outsourcing of social communication during Alfaro’s administration","author":"Juan S. Larrosa-Fuentes","date":"10 December, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"By Juan S. Larrosa-Fuentes (December 9, 2024) Today, I would like to begin a series of three installments in which I will evaluate Enrique Alfaro's six-year term in terms of communication. 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