When Mexican forces captured and killed the country’s most-wanted cartel boss, it revealed how much President Trump’s growing pressure is forcing Mexico to take on cartels. Maria Abi-Habib and Jack Nicas, who covered the developments, discuss the operation to take down the leader known as El Mencho, and Mexico’s efforts against some of the world’s most powerful criminals. Guest: • Maria Abi-Habib (https://www.nytimes.com/by/maria-abi-habib) , an investigative correspondent for The New York Times based in Mexico City. • Jack Nicas (https://www.nytimes.com/by/jack-nicas) , the Mexico City bureau chief for The New York Times. Background reading:  • Mayhem rocked Mexico (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/22/world/americas/jalisco-new-generation-cartel-leader-killed.html) after the killing of El Mencho. • Analysis: Mexico is caught between Mr. Trump and the cartels (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/24/world/americas/trump-sheinbaum-us-mexico-cartel.html) . • Analysis: In nearly 60 years of the war on drugs, what has actually worked? (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/24/world/americas/mexico-war-on-drugs.html) Photo: Luis Cortes/Reuters For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily (http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily) . Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts (http://nytimes.com/podcasts) or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.