Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum firmly rejected media reports on Wednesday suggesting the CIA conducted lethal operations within Mexico, claiming the U.S. news outlet was trying to “hurt the government and the people of Mexico.”
The controversy began when CNN published a story Tuesday alleging the CIA helped orchestrate a targeted killing of a Sinaloa cartel member on a highway near Mexico City, sparking intense debate in Mexico. The New York Times subsequently reported that Mexican security forces executed the operation while the CIA offered planning assistance and support.
Sheinbaum dismissed the CNN story as a “lie.” When questioned about The New York Times account during her daily morning briefing, she described it as “a fiction the size of the universe.”
CIA spokesperson Liz Lyons also criticized the CNN coverage, writing on X that “this is false and salacious reporting that serves as nothing more than a PR campaign for the cartels and puts American lives at risk.”
CNN has not yet provided a response to requests for comment.
Unlike her political mentor and former president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who frequently targeted journalists during his morning briefings and even publicly exposed personal information of critical reporters, Sheinbaum has adopted a more restrained approach when facing media criticism.
However, the current president has faced multiple controversies involving the United States recently as she works to balance maintaining positive relations with Washington while renegotiating trade agreements and responding to President Donald Trump’s threats regarding cartel enforcement.
Sheinbaum has emphasized Mexico’s independence, though this position faces growing scrutiny.
In the previous month, two CIA operatives died in a vehicle accident alongside Mexican investigators while returning from a counter-narcotics mission in Chihuahua, a northern state. Sheinbaum stated she was unaware of the operation, and both Mexican and U.S. officials provided conflicting information for several days.
One week following that incident, a New York court filed charges against Sinaloa’s governor – a senior member of Sheinbaum’s political party and Lopez Obrador supporter – for drug trafficking and weapons violations, alleging involvement in large-scale illegal drug smuggling into the United States.
