“It is very hard to understand what the president did today in Badiraguato,” tweeted the Mexican journalist Pascal Beltrán del Río.

He added that the president had “failed to keep a healthy distance – in more than one sense”.

An opposition leader from the National Action party (Pan), Marko Cortés, described the meeting as an insult to victims of Mexico’s cartels. He said on Twitter: “President, your greeting to Chapo Guzmán’s mother, outrageous to all, is a lack of respect for the victims of drug trafficking and the Armed Forces who risk their lives for our safety.”