Mexico rejects CNN report on deadly CIA operations against cartels

( Reuters )

Mexican authorities and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency rejected on Tuesday a CNN news story ​reporting that CIA operatives have directly participated in fatal attacks on cartel targets ‌in Mexico over the last year.

The CNN story, published earlier on Tuesday and citing anonymous sources, said the CIA has ramped up its covert operations in Mexico through the agency's elite ​Ground Branch unit. This activity includes directly participating in targeted assassinations, CNN ​reported.

"The Mexican government categorically rejects any versions (of events) that seek to ⁠normalize, justify or suggest the existence of lethal, covert or unilateral operations by ​foreign agencies on Mexican soil," Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch said on X.

The CIA, ​through a post on X from spokesperson Liz Lyons, said of the CNN story: "This is false and salacious reporting that serves as nothing more than a PR campaign for the cartels and ​puts American lives at risk."

The presence of CIA operatives in Mexico has ​strained the bilateral relationship in recent weeks.

On April 19, two U.S. officials died in a ‌car ⁠accident in the northern state of Chihuahua after returning from a Mexican security operation to dismantle a drug lab. Three sources told Reuters the officials were CIA officers.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said the federal government was not aware the U.S. ​officials had been involved ​in the operation, ⁠and has told the U.S. that unauthorized participation of U.S. officials should not be repeated.

The presence of U.S. personnel in ​anti-cartel operations is a deeply sensitive matter in Mexico. Sheinbaum ​has long ⁠maintained that she welcomes intelligence sharing and security cooperation but will not accept U.S. agents or forces participating in operations on Mexican territory.

In contrast, U.S. President Donald Trump has ⁠repeatedly ​called for greater use of U.S. military force to ​combat Mexican cartels, and has threatened that the U.S. could go it alone if Washington feels Mexico ​isn't doing enough.