Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum denies reports of CIA operations against cartels

President Claudia Sheinbaum has rejected a media report suggesting that Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives from the United States directly participated in deadly operations targeting drug cartels on Mexican territory.

In her morning news conference on Wednesday, Sheinbaum said that reports, from CNN and The New York Times, about such activity were fictitious.

The CIA has also denied the reports, while CNN has said that it stands by its reporting.

“Imagine how big the lie is if the CIA itself needs to come out and dismiss” the story, Sheinbaum told reporters. She likewise called a New York Times report a “fiction the size of the universe”.

It was the highest-level rejection yet to come from the Mexican government since the allegations were made on Tuesday.

Sheinbaum has continued to insist that US law enforcement officials do not directly participate in operations on Mexican soil, despite news reports suggesting otherwise.

On Tuesday, CNN quoted anonymous sources as saying that the CIA had engaged in an “expanded and previously unreported” campaign to attack cartels within Mexico, including by directly participating in targeted assassinations.

The report pointed to a March 2026 explosion that killed Francisco Beltran, a member of the Sinaloa Cartel, as well as his driver.

Mexico’s security laws require that foreign operatives receive permission from the federal government to operate on the country’s soil.

CNN’s reporting suggested that some of the alleged CIA activity may not have been coordinated with Mexico’s government, however.

While Sheinbaum’s government has acknowledged sharing intelligence with the US, it has rejected the prospect of US forces operating without its permission on Mexican territory.

The recent CNN report has prompted condemnation on both sides of the US-Mexico border.

In a social media post, CIA spokesperson Liz Lyons called the report a case of “false and salacious reporting that serves as nothing more than a PR campaign for the cartels and puts American lives at risk”.

Mexico’s Security Secretary Omar Harfuch, meanwhile, acknowledged that cooperation between the two governments “does exist”. However, he, too, asserted that the CNN report was inaccurate.

“The Government of Mexico categorically rejects any narrative that seeks to normalize, justify, or suggest the existence of lethal, covert, or unilateral operations by foreign agencies within national territory,” he on social media.