Sheinbaum rejects US claims that the Mexican government is cooperating with the cartels Government Affairs

Sheinbaum has criticized DEA head Terry Cole’s comments as baseless ‘political commentary’ about Mexico.

President of Mexico Claudia Sheinbaum has denied what the head of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said that there is a dangerous connection between his government and the most famous criminal groups in the country.

At his daily press conference on Wednesday, Sheinbaum pushed back, saying the DEA’s comments appeared to be “more political than evidence-based”.

He also said that the DEA should focus on combating drug trafficking, distribution and money laundering in their country. The US, he said, is the world’s largest market for illegal drugs.

Sheinbaum has repeatedly faced accusations under US President Donald Trump that his country is “run” by cartels.

A number of Trump officials have adopted this approach. On Tuesday, for example, DEA Director Terry Cole said that the Mexican government and cartel networks are “similar”.

The Mexican government responded by saying that Cole’s comments did not reflect its efforts to work with the US to fight the cartels.

It added that Mexico remains willing to cooperate with the US in fighting crime, as long as its sovereignty is respected.

Since Trump’s second term in office, Sheinbaum has faced pressure from her neighbor to the north to crack down on crime in her country.

In response, he promised closer cooperation with the US, while pushing back against Trump’s military approach to Latin America.

Its administration has repeatedly rejected the prospect of the US conducting military operations on its soil without the government’s consent.

Initially, Trump and Sheinbaum appeared to be developing a good relationship, with the US president praising his Mexican counterpart as “amazing”.

But Sheinbaum has grown increasingly critical of the Trump administration in recent months.

In April, for example, he he scolded The US has issued an indictment against ⁠Governor of Sinaloa Ruben Rocha, among the charges that his campaign worked with the Sinaloa Cartel to sabotage the 2021 elections.

Sheinbaum said no evidence has been presented to support the US’s allegations against Rocha. He also said that fighting corruption is a domestic issue, not an international one.

Earlier this week, Mexico filed a complaint against US prosecutors over the deaths of Mexican citizens during Trump’s mass deportation campaign.

Sheinbaum’s statement on Wednesday came as the US Treasury Department announced that two other Mexican gangs – the Juarez Cartel and Los Viagras – had been designated as “foreign terrorist organizations and international criminals”.

Trump’s administration has made such names in the past, because they wanted to organize what they are doing in Latin America as a war against the so-called “narco-terrorists”.