‘The presidents of Mexico can only have one flag,’ Sheinbaum says: Wednesday’s mañanera recapped

• 🇲🇽 Sheinbaum backs ban on dual nationals running for president or governor: Responding to the Senate’s approval of a constitutional reform bill, the president said that “the presidents of Mexico can only have one flag, one homeland, one people to defend.” She stressed that Mexican citizens can hold multiple nationalities, but said that anyone who wants to be a governor or president “must have only one nationality.”
• 📰 Sheinbaum downplays NYT report on López Beltrán: Asked about a Sept. 29 New York Times report stating that two U.S. law enforcement agencies are looking into accusations of ties between Andrés Manuel López Beltrán, the son of former President López Obrador, and organized crime and fuel smuggling, Sheinbaum noted that the report said no formal investigations had been launched.
• 📁 FGR has files on some of the people sanctioned by the U.S.: Asked about Tuesday’s U.S. Treasury Department sanctions against Sinaloa Cartel “leaders” and “facilitators,” Sheinbaum said that “some of these people” are already subject to Federal Attorney General’s Office investigations. Among those sanctioned are Ismael Zambada Sicairos, son of detained kingpin “El Mayo” Zambada, and Carlos Alberto Torres Torres, the ex-husband of Baja California Governor Marina del Pilar Ávila.

Why today’s mañanera matters

President Claudia Sheinbaum responded to a significant national development and a significant international development at her Wednesday morning press conference.

The former was the Senate’s approval on Tuesday of a constitutional reform bill that seeks to bar presidential and gubernatorial aspirants from running for office if they hold dual nationality. The bill must be ratified by at least 17 of Mexico’s 32 state Congresses in order for the constitution to be changed.

The significant international development was the U.S. Treasury Department’s announcement on Tuesday of sanctions against 21 alleged Sinaloa Cartel “leaders” and “facilitators,” including the former husband of the Morena party governor of the northern border state of Baja California.

Also of note at today’s mañanera was Sheinbaum’s response to a New York Times report about Andrés Manuel López Beltrán, son of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. López Beltrán, known as “Andy,” formerly served as Morena’s secretary of organization and is now aiming to be elected as a federal deputy in next year’s elections. He has denied allegations of corruption leveled against him.

For her part, Sheinbaum, on Wednesday morning, made it clear — once again — that she is no fan of The New York Times.

Sheinbaum: ‘The presidents of Mexico can only have one flag’

A reporter asked the president about the Senate’s approval of the “dual nationality” constitutional reform bill.

“The presidents of Mexico can only have one flag, one homeland, one people to defend,” Sheinbaum said.

She stressed that Mexican citizens can hold dual nationality, triple nationality or even quadruple nationality.

However, “any person who wants to be a governor or wants to be president must have only one nationality,” Sheinbaum said.

Sheinbaum responds to NYT report on Andrés Manuel López Beltrán

A reporter asked Sheinbaum about a New York Times report headlined, “A Former President’s Son Poses a Test for Mexico’s Governing Party.”

The Sept. 29 report states: “Two U.S. law enforcement agencies are looking into accusations of Mr. López Beltrán’s supposed ties to organized crime and fuel smuggling, but they have not launched formal investigations, according to five people with direct knowledge of the agencies’ inquiries who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.”

López Beltrán revealed in August that his U.S. visa had been revoked. He said at the time that there was “no reason whatsoever” for the “crude and perverse act of villainy” against him.

Asked whether the Federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) will have to open an investigation into López Beltrán in light of the New York Times report, Sheinbaum first pointed out that the article was written by “the same reporter” who wrote a story on fentanyl production in a kitchen in Culiacán while “there was hot sauce to one side.”

She was referring to Paulina Villegas, one of four journalists listed in the byline of the report on López Beltrán. In late 2024, Sheinbaum described the NYT report on fentanyl production as “not very credible.”

On Wednesday morning, she downplayed the report published by the Times on Tuesday.

“It says: It’s not confirmed, there is no formal investigation, but it seems they told me some agencies are investigating,” Sheinbaum said, purporting to paraphrase the Times report.

“Just imagine! [This is] the New York Times,” she said.

“That’s what the article says. Read it,” Sheinbaum added.

Sheinbaum descalifica el reporte del @nytimes sobre posibles investigaciones a Andy en EU

Ataca directamente a la periodista que escribió la nota

Sigue el blindaje total al hijo del expresidente López Obrador pic.twitter.com/6acvOKfOGH

— Manuel Lopez San Martin (@MLopezSanMartin) September 30, 2026

“It’s not confirmed; there is no formal investigation, but they told me that perhaps, maybe, U.S. agencies are investigating. That’s the New York Times article by the same reporter who said that fentanyl was cooked in a normal kitchen in Culiacán. It’s impossible,” she said.

Sheinbaum said she wasn’t aware of any investigation into López Beltrán by the FGR.

“The Attorney General’s Office would have to inform, but we don’t have knowledge [of an investigation],” she said.

Sheinbaum: ‘Some’ OFAC-sanction individuals are already under investigation in Mexico  

A reporter asked the president whether the Baja California state government led by Governor Marina del Pilar Ávila Olmeda should be investigated by the FGR given that the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions on Tuesday against Ávila’s ex-husband, Carlos Alberto Torres Torres.

In a press release titled “Treasury Sanctions Sinaloa Cartel Leadership and Corruption Networks,” the Treasury Department said that “Sinaloa Cartel-enabled narco-corruption has reached the highest levels of the Baja California state government” and alleged that “[a]t the center of this narco-corruption scheme is the ex-husband of the Governor of Baja California, Carlos Alberto Torres Torres (Carlos Torres) and his brother Luis Alfonso Torres Torres (Luis Torres).”

The Treasury Department said that Carlos Torres, a former federal and state deputy, “uses his political influence to facilitate cartel activities and protect the Sinaloa Cartel from government and law enforcement intervention in Baja California.”

“The U.S. Department of State revoked Carlos Torres’s U.S. visa in May 2025 due to his cartel affiliation and work on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel,” Treasury said.

Torres denies the allegations leveled against him.

Sheinbaum said that some of the people OFAC sanctioned on Tuesday — among whom are Ismael Zambada Sicairos, son of detained Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada García — were already under investigation by the FGR.

“Some of these people whose accounts were frozen yesterday already had investigation files in the Attorney General’s Office, but not all of them,” she said.

Governor Ávila said in January that Torres was the subject of an FGR probe that stemmed from an anonymous complaint implicating her ex-husband in a plot to allow a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel to operate in Baja California.

The governor’s U.S. visa was also revoked last year, but she denied any criminal wrongdoing. However, in a telephone conversation with one man identified as an “external” FBI adviser and another man identified as an FBI “special agent,” Ávila said she was willing to cooperate with U.S. authorities, apparently in order to avoid possible criminal charges in the United States and extradition to that country.

An audio recording of the conversation was published by the newspaper El Universal in July.

By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)