CIA conducting deadly operations against Mexican cartels: Report
The campaign has targeted mostly mid-level cartel figures and used direct action, with sources saying the lethality of operations has sharply increased.
- United States and Mexican authorities continue joint anti-cartel operations, including binational patrols conducted on May 11, despite diplomatic friction over CNN reports alleging CIA lethal involvement. Both governments categorically rejected the allegations on Tuesday.
- CNN reported on May 12 that CIA Ground Branch operatives directly participated in deadly attacks on cartel targets since 2025, citing anonymous sources. The March 28 death of alleged Sinaloa Cartel member Francisco Beltrán exposed the clandestine presence.
- CIA spokesperson Liz Lyons called the report "false and salacious reporting that serves as nothing more than a PR campaign for the cartels," while Mexican Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch rejected any "lethal, covert, or unilateral operations by foreign agencies on national territory."
- Despite tensions, CIA intelligence helped Mexican forces arrest mid-to-high level cartel figures in recent months, including locating Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader El Mencho in February. Joint Texas operations dismantled a CJNG cell, yielding 24 arrests and more than $350,000 in seized cash and 74 weapons.
- The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy released its 2026 National Drug Control Strategy last week, identifying Mexico as central to U.S. operations. President Donald Trump threatened military escalation if cooperation falters, though sources indicate CIA capabilities in Mexico remain incomplete.
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In Mexico, “operational actions belong exclusively to the competent Mexican authorities,” said García Harfuch.
Algemeen Dagblad
Mexican authorities have denied a CNN news report stating that the US intelligence agency CIA was behind a security operation that led to the death of a cartel member in an explosion outside Mexico City.
The spokesman for the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Liz Lyons, called CNN's report that the agency was behind the explosion of a van in the state of Mexico in late March, in which an operator of the Sinaloa Cartel was killed. "This is a false and lascivious report that serves nothing but a public relations campaign for cartels and puts the lives of Americans at risk," Lyons wrote in X, without going into detail.
The Attorney General's Office of Justice of the State of Mexico categorically rejected the version linking the CIA to the death of El Payín, an alleged member of the Sinaloa Cartel.This position supports what was also said by the head of the Ministry of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC), Omar García Harfuch, who rejected the existence of CIA undercover operations in Mexican territory.Fiscalía Edomex rejects claims about the CIA in El Payín'…
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- 43% of the sources are Center
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