Mexico, CIA denies report of US assassination campaign against cartels | Narcotics Issues

The accusations come after US media said the CIA was ‘directly involved’ in anti-cartel killings.

The Mexican government and the CIA have criticized reports that US law enforcement agencies are involved in the killing of alleged drug lords in the Latin American country.

The denials on Tuesday came after CNN reported that the CIA had been involved in assassination operations aimed at taking down drug cartels in Mexico.

CIA agents have “directly participated” in several attacks on drug cartels since last year, including a car bombing in March that killed Francisco Beltran, a member of the Sinaloa Cartel, CNN reported, citing multiple unnamed sources.

The operations have focused on middle class members, with CIA involvement ranging from “sharing intelligence” to “participating in assassinations”, CNN reported.

In a televised statement, CIA spokeswoman Liz Lyons said the CNN report was “false and fraudulent” and “operated as a cartel-related campaign to put American lives at risk”.

Mexico’s Secretary of Defense, Omar Garcia Harfuch, also criticized the report, saying that the government “absolutely rejects any form that seeks to control, justify, or mention the presence of dangerous, hidden, or unrelated foreign organizations in the territory of the country”.

“Cooperation with the United States is there, it is important, and it has brought the right results for both countries,” Harfuch said in a post on X.

“However, it is done under clear principles: respect for authority, shared responsibility, mutual trust, and cooperation without subordination.”

CNN did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Mexican government and the CIA’s allegations.

Since taking office in the White House in January of last year, US President Donald Trump has been fighting drug-trafficking gangs in Latin America in a brutal campaign that critics say has violated the law and the president.

The Trump administration has designated nine terrorists from Latin America as terrorist organizationsincluding Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, La Nueva Familia Michoacana, and Carteles Unidos, and launched a series of raids on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean, killing more than 190 people.

Trump’s crackdown on drug-trafficking has been a source of tension with Mexico, which U.S. officials say is the largest source of fentanyl, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine into the country.

Last month, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum threatened to punish authorities on the border with Chihuahua for allowing CIA operatives to take part in drug busts.

Sheinbaum said that he and other officials in his administration were not informed of the US involvement in the incident, which became known after two Americans who worked for the CIA died in a car accident after a drug raid.

Under a law passed by Congress in Mexico in 2020, foreign workers working in the country must share information with the government and do not have diplomatic protection.