Sheinbaum tells US ambassador to avoid political interference in drug trafficking dispute

Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday appeared to chide Ron Johnson, a US ambassador, for interfering in the country’s politics amid rising tensions between her country and Washington over efforts to tackle drug trafficking.

“It is also very important, and I say this respectfully, to remember that ambassadors should focus on coordination and collaboration,” Sheinbaum said during her regular morning news conference. “Ambassadors must respect the internal political affairs of their countries.”

The president’s comments came after a post on X, in which Johnson seemed to imply that Mexico was making the effort to combat drugs into a political issue, after Sheinbaum herself had accused the US of intervening in domestic issues.

“Every moment spent turning this shared security challenge into a political dispute is a missed opportunity to strengthen our partnership and protect the people we serve,” Johnson wrote.

The back and forth between Johnson and Sheinbaum is the latest sign of increasing tensions between the two neighbouring countries, which have been rising for months over efforts to combat drug trafficking groups.

Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to send ground troops into Mexico to fight the cartels, and has also accused Mexican politicians of having an “intolerable alliance” with organized crime.

Throughout, Sheinbaum has kept what she herself has called a “cool head”, politely declining Trump’s offers to deploy troops and acquiescing to his demands: ordering thousands of troops to the US border to halt migration, stopping oil shipments to Cuba, and sending nearly 100 cartel members to face justice in the US.

But relations began fraying in April after it was revealed that several CIA agents had been involved in a raid on a drug lab in Chihuahua state, without knowledge or approval from the federal government – a potential violation of Mexico’s constitution.

Just more than a week later, the US justice department announced drug trafficking charges against the governor of the Sinaloa state and nine other current and former officials, accusing them of having ties to the powerful Sinaloa cartel.