The Japan Times - Omar Garcia Harfuch: 'Mexico's Batman' -- and possible presidential hopeful

The tale has burnished the image of Harfuch, Mexico's high-profile security secretary known as "Batman" for his tough approach to fighting the country's powerful drug cartels, whom he blamed for the attack.

Indeed, the 44-year-old -- the son of popular telenovela actress Maria Sorte -- has become something of a folk superhero in a country worn down by violence, with the looks and attitude to match.

Harfuch is tall, handsome and stylish. His smiling face, straight out of central casting, is seen on T-shirts, blankets, pillows and towels at stands all over the capital.

His soaring popularity has fueled rumors that he'll be named as a potential candidate for President Claudia Sheinbaum's ruling Morena party to succeed her in the 2030 election.

But he also is under stiff pressure from the administration of US President Donald Trump to do even more to stem the flow of drugs over the common border.

It is tough for Harfuch to connect with ordinary Mexicans, given security concerns in the wake of the assassination attempt. But his public image -- built in part on an official decrease in the number of murders -- has won many over.

- Meteoric rise, with some scrutiny -

Born in Cuernavaca in February 1982, Harfuch was raised by his mother alone, but was born with politics and the military in his blood.

His father Javier Garcia Paniagua led Mexico's feared political police during the "dirty war" of the 1970s, and faced accusations of torture. His grandfather was the defense secretary when the military opened fire on university student protesters in Tlatelolco in 1968.

Harfuch -- who holds a degree in law and public security -- started his career in 2008, 10 years after the death of his father.

Maribel Cervantes says she met him when he joined the now-dissolved federal police force, where she was his boss as the head of intelligence.

Harfuch loved "the streets," preferring "to go on operations" over desk work, Cervantes said.

During his time as federal police coordinator in Guerrero state, he faced scrutiny for the handling of the 2014 disappearances of 43 students allegedly kidnapped by drug traffickers in collusion with corrupt police, a case considered to be one of the worst human rights atrocities in Mexico.

Some witnesses accused Harfuch of being on the payroll of the cartel believed to be behind the disappearances, which he has repeatedly and vehemently denied.

- Hail of bullets -

He eventually became the director of the criminal investigation arm of the Mexican attorney general's office.

Harfuch "sought to professionalize, to modernize the intelligence agency to go after crimes," said Gerardo Rodriguez, an academic expert in national security who met Harfuch in 2018.

The following year, he was named security chief for Mexico City, when Sheinbaum was the capital's mayor.

He created an elite US-trained police unit with expanded investigative and operational powers who patrol with military-grade weapons -- a model he would later recreate at the federal level.

Petty crimes dropped, as did homicides, according to official data, though some disputed the data as possibly massaged to benefit authorities. Reports of police abuses also surged during that time, drawing controversy.

Then the assassination attempt -- officially attributed to the Jalisco New Generation cartel -- changed his everyday existence.

Two of his escorts and a bystander died in the shooting spree. Harfuch was forced to move into an apartment within the security secretariat, and was largely isolated from his family.

An attack like that "marks you for life, marks you in the sense of commitment," Rodriguez told AFP.

- The future -

When Sheinbaum won the presidency and took power in 2024, she brought Harfuch into the federal government as security secretary.

Together they scrapped the non-confrontational "hugs not bullets" policy of her predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and pursued open collaboration with US security agencies.

Harfuch -- who was trained in FBI workshops, according to Cervantes -- now frequently meets with US security officials to discuss anti-narcotics efforts.

His success and possible political future hinges in part on the results of their intensified crackdown on organized crime.

Harfuch's popularity hit new heights in February when Mexico's most wanted narco, Nemesio "El Mencho" Oseguera, was killed in a military operation.

Sheinbaum is limited to a single six-year term as president, opening the door to... Batman.

A high-ranking police official who worked with Harfuch and asked not to be named said a run for the presidency would be a loss for the security community.

"The worst that could happen is that we lose Omar so he dedicates himself to politics," the official said.

M.Ito--JT