Mexican authorities and the CIA have refuted a CNN report alleging direct involvement of CIA operatives in fatal attacks against cartel targets within Mexico over the past year. President Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday accused the U.S.-based news organization of attempting to “hurt the government and the people of Mexico.”
Details of the Report
CNN reported Tuesday that the CIA facilitated a targeted assassination of a member of the Sinaloa cartel on a highway outside Mexico City, fueling a firestorm in Mexico. The New York Times later reported that Mexican forces carried out the attack and the CIA provided planning and support.
Official Reactions
Sheinbaum called the CNN report a “lie.” Asked about the New York Times report during her morning press briefing, she described it as “a fiction the size of the universe.” Liz Lyons, a spokesperson for the CIA, also lambasted the CNN report, posting on X that “this is false and salacious reporting that serves as nothing more than a PR campaign for the cartels and puts American lives at risk.” CNN did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Context and Recent Events
While Sheinbaum's mentor and predecessor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, regularly attacked journalists in his morning press briefings, going as far as to dox critical reporters, Sheinbaum has taken a more measured tone in the face of criticism. However, the president has been plagued by scandals involving the United States in recent weeks as she comes under pressure to maintain a strong relationship with Washington amid renegotiating a free trade agreement and threats by President Donald Trump to take action on cartels.
Sheinbaum has underscored Mexico's sovereignty, a narrative that increasingly has been questioned. Last month, two CIA agents were killed in a car crash along with local Mexican investigators on their return from an anti-narcotics operation in the northern state of Chihuahua. Sheinbaum said she had no knowledge of the operation, and Mexican and U.S. authorities contradicted themselves for days. A week later, a New York court charged Sinaloa's governor – a high-ranking member of Sheinbaum's party and ally of Lopez Obrador – with drug trafficking and weapons offenses, accused of aiding in the massive importation of illicit narcotics into the U.S.
