MEXICO CITY — No searchlight illuminates the night sky when the citizens of Gotham in Mexico need a hand. No hotline summons this super cop from a hidden redoubt.
But Mexico does have its own “Batman”: Omar García Harfuch, security czar of the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum.
He acquired the nickname Batman during his days as Mexico City's anti-crime police chief under then-Mayor Sheinbaum. Like the stalwart Dark Knight, Garcia Harfuch gives off the vibe of a vigilant protector who makes up for his lack of superpowers with more cerebral abilities: a mix of intelligence, resolve, and courage.
In his current position (official title: Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection), García Harfuch is inevitably sent to trouble spots from the northern border to the southern interior: sites of murders, massacres, gang wars and other headline-grabbing incarnations of Mexican chaos. The script never varies: it promises to catch the bad guys. The arrests continue.
Like his boss, Sheinbaum, the security chief disputes President Trump's claims that Mexico is “governed by” cartels, although he does not deny the widespread influence of organized crime.
“Yes, there is definitely a presence of criminal groups, but [Mexico] It is not controlled by the cartels,” García Harfuch, 43, recently told the Mexican newspaper El Universal.
Omar García Harfuch, far left in a suit, walks with President Claudia Sheinbaum (center) and other Mexican officials during a ceremony in Mexico City in September to commemorate the September 19 earthquakes that hit Mexico in 1985 and 2017.
(Juan Abundis/ObturadorMX via Getty Images)
Joe Friday's stern, detailed accounts of arrests, seizures, drug lab takedowns and other coercive actions are signature moments of presidential press conferences. García Harfuch, always dressed in a suit and tie, exudes an aura of competence, and his media-savvy advisors have polished his image as an implacable enemy of the cartels.
His supporters began calling him Batman, in English, when crime rates fell precipitously in Mexico City during his tenure as police chief. His supporters even circulated online images of a modified Batman action figure, with “Harfuch” emblazoned across the chest.
While he emphasizes intelligence gathering and investigative diligence, he doesn't shy away from praising police work and citing traditional metrics of success. Since Sheinbaum took office on October 1, 2024, he says, authorities have arrested more than 37,000 suspects in “high-impact crimes,” seized more than 300 tons of illicit drugs and dismantled more than 600 drug laboratories.
Those statistics were rarely mentioned during the presidency of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Sheinbaum's predecessor and mentor. The former president favored a much-criticized “hugs, not bullets” strategy: reducing offensive operations against cartels and instead addressing poverty and other socioeconomic factors that drive young people to join organized crime. Many Mexicans seem happy with the change.
García Harfuch, at the National Palace in September, was Mexico City's police chief before becoming Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection.
(Gerardo Vieyra/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
“Harfuch seems to me to be a good man who means well, but, unfortunately, crime is so ingrained in Mexican society that it is difficult to get rid of,” said Gregorio Flores, 57, a store owner in Mexico City.
García Harfuch is probably the most visible figure in the Mexican government, other than the president, and polls show that he is among the most popular and a possible candidate to succeed Sheinbaum, who clearly trusts him explicitly from their time together in the Mexico City government. Even Sheinbaum's rivals recognize its effectiveness.
Taking a strong stance against organized crime is not without risk in Mexico, where politicians, police, journalists and anyone else who stands in the way of mobs can end up in the crosshairs of gangsters. García Harfuch is very aware of what is at stake.
Experts work at the crime scene after García Harfuch was injured in an assassination attempt in Mexico City on June 26, 2020. Two of his bodyguards and a bystander were killed.
(Pedro Pardo/AFP via Getty Images)
In 2020, while serving as the capital's police chief, García Harfuch survived three gunshot wounds in a brazen attack while his van was traveling along Mexico City's elegant Paseo de la Reforma. Two police bodyguards and a street vendor who was a passerby were killed in the assault. The commando-style attack using multiple high-caliber weaponry stunned one of the capital's most upscale residential districts, somewhat like a mob attack on Rodeo Drive.
From his hospital bed, García Harfuch, a former federal police officer who also has a law degree, blamed the powerful Jalisco Nueva Generación cartel.
The Mexican press frequently reports on continuing threats against García Harfuch, including chilling scrawled death threats found in May next to several mangled bodies, suspected victims of a cartel, dumped on the outskirts of Acapulco.
“García Harfuch is the cartels' number one enemy,” said David Saucedo, a security analyst. “It has become a headache for them. The cartels were used to making deals with [the government]. …But Harfuch gives the impression that he is not willing to reach an agreement with organized crime groups. And that is a problem for the cartels.”
Safety is Mexicans' top concern, and García Harfuch gives the impression that the good guys are cracking down, even if many have doubts about the sharp decline in crime that Sheinbaum regularly touts.
Homicides have fallen nearly 40% since Sheinbaum took office last year, the government says, although critics consider the statistic inflated: it excludes, for example, the growing number of “disappeared” people, presumed crime victims sent to clandestine graves.
And some have suggested that Sheinbaum's calls to his media-savvy security chief to save the day are more performative than substantive, and likely counterproductive.
“There is no Batman,” columnist Viri Ríos recently wrote in Mexico's Milenio newspaper. “The Batman myth is dangerous, especially for Harfuch. Turning it into a myth places the responsibility on him to pacify the country. But, as we all know, Omar cannot defeat organized crime alone.”
In fact, García Harfuch has relatively few forces under his direct command. Corruption remains rampant among police, prosecutors, and state and municipal judges in Mexico, often making them untrustworthy partners. Thus, García Harfuch depends on other agencies, in particular the National Guard, a force of 200,000 troops under military command.
Sheinbaum speaks at his daily press conference in November as García Harfuch looks on. He is a regular at informational meetings.
(Carl de Souza/AFP via Getty Images)
García Harfuch regularly extols his relationship with the armed forces, despite rumors of resentment against his extensive powers and his closeness to Sheinbaum. Mexico's first female president also serves as military commander-in-chief.
García Harfuch is said to have the confidence of US authorities, even though the Trump administration's increasing demands and threats of unilateral attacks on Mexican territory put him in a difficult situation. Last week, Trump declared that he was “not happy” with counternarcotics efforts in Mexico.
“Americans have confidence in García Harfuch, but they are always asking for more: more arrests, more extraditions, more dismantling” of drug labs, said Saucedo, the security analyst.
For security reasons, officials provide few details about García Harfuch's personal life, beyond saying that he is divorced and a father.
García Harfuch descends from a line of prominent government officials, and their careers reflect, in part, Mexico's past under authoritarian and repressive rule.
His grandfather, General Marcelino García Barragán, was Secretary of Defense during the infamous 1968 massacre of student protesters in the Tlatelolco district of Mexico City; and his father, Javier García Paniagua, was a politician who held several positions, including head of a federal police agency now disbanded and attacked for human rights abuses.
Mexico's top cop may not wear a cape or mask, but his background has a touch of showbiz: his mother, María Sorté, is one of Mexico's best-known actresses, often playing characters in telenovelas or telenovelas. Few know her real name, María Harfuch Hidalgo, whose paternal surname reflects her Lebanese ancestry.
“Harfuch seems to me to be a good man with good intentions,” said Carmen Zamora, 46, a restaurant owner in Mexico City. “But it needs more time. The violence that we have seen for so long in Mexico cannot be resolved in one year.”
Carlos Monjarraz, 34, a car salesman from the capital, is not convinced.
“All this Batman is just a joke for Mexicans when everything remains the same: the same murders, drug trafficking, insecurity,” Monjarraz said. “We don't need a Batman to save us. What we need is for the authorities to imprison the real criminals: corrupt politicians who continue to protect each other.”
Special correspondent Cecilia Sánchez Vidal contributed to this report.
