El Mencho is dead. Now what?
In this powerful panel from the 2026 North America Summit, host Selene Rodriguez of the Texas Public Policy Foundation sits down with three of the nation’s top cartel experts to answer the question Washington doesn’t want to ask: is taking down one kingpin actually enough?
DEA Deputy Administrator Dan Salter, Omni Intelligence CEO Jaeson Jones, and TPPF Senior Fellow & former Border Patrol Agent Ammon Blair break down what really happened the night El Mencho was killed, why Mexico’s 44% drop in homicides is historic, and why the cartels as we know them may finally be on borrowed time.
But this conversation goes far beyond one cartel boss.
These experts expose how the cartels have infiltrated every layer of Mexican society — from local elections to the cattle and food supply hitting American grocery store shelves. They reveal the unprecedented intelligence-sharing and military cooperation now happening between the U.S. and Mexico, what the Foreign Terrorist Organization designation actually unlocks for U.S. operations, and why indicting corrupt Mexican politicians could be a turning point — or a trap.
Topics covered:
– The operation that killed El Mencho — inside details
– Why homicide metrics alone don’t tell the whole story
– Cartels, cattle, and your food supply
– FTO designation and the legal tools it unlocks
– The historic indictment of a sitting Mexican official
– What “full spectrum operations” actually means
– The role of the CIA, DEA, and Department of Defense
– Can Mexico’s Morena-led government be trusted?
This is the frank, unfiltered conversation that every American concerned about border security, national security, and the cartel threat needs to hear.