CIA Report on Mexico Cartels Draws Swift Denials

A CNN report alleging that CIA operatives have taken part in assassination operations against suspected cartel members in Mexico has triggered an unusually blunt response from both Washington and Mexico City.

The story, published on Monday, claimed that US intelligence personnel had been involved in several operations against Mexican drug trafficking groups since last year. According to CNN, that involvement ranged from intelligence sharing to what unnamed sources described as “direct participation in assassination operations”.

One example cited in the report was a March car explosion that killed Francisco Beltran, an alleged member of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Both governments moved quickly to reject the account.

In a statement posted on social media, CIA spokesperson Liz Lyons called the report “false and salacious” and said it “serves as nothing more than a PR campaign for the cartels and puts American lives at risk.”

Mexico’s security chief, Omar Garcia Harfuch, issued an equally direct rebuttal.

“The government categorically rejects any version that seeks to normalise, justify, or suggest the existence of lethal, covert, or unilateral operations by foreign agencies on national territory,” he said.

At the same time, Harfuch stressed that security cooperation with the United States remains active and important.

“Cooperation with the United States exists, is important, and has yielded relevant results for both countries,” he said.

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

The unusually strong denials reflect a political reality that has become increasingly sensitive in Mexico: cooperation with Washington is accepted, but any suggestion that US agencies are carrying out unilateral lethal operations on Mexican soil crosses a red line.

The issue has become more contentious since Donald Trump returned to the White House and intensified the US campaign against Latin American drug trafficking groups. His administration has designated several cartels as terrorist organisations, including the Sinaloa Cartel, La Nueva Familia Michoacana and Carteles Unidos.

That tougher approach has strained ties with Claudia Sheinbaum, whose government has insisted that all cooperation must remain within Mexico’s legal framework and under its authority.

Last month, Sheinbaum threatened sanctions against officials in the border state of Chihuahua after reports that CIA personnel had participated in raids on clandestine drug laboratories. The controversy intensified after two Americans believed to be working for the agency died in a car crash following one of those operations.

Under a 2020 law passed by Mexico’s Congress, foreign agents operating in the country must share information with Mexican authorities and do not enjoy diplomatic immunity.