MEXICO CITY, May 12 (Reuters) – Mexican authorities and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency on Tuesday denied a NCS information story reporting that CIA operatives have instantly participated in deadly assaults on cartel targets in Mexico during the last yr.
The NCS story, revealed earlier on Tuesday and citing nameless sources, mentioned the CIA has ramped up its covert operations in Mexico by means of the company’s elite Ground Branch unit. This exercise consists of instantly collaborating in focused assassinations, NCS 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 mentioned on X.
The CIA, by means of a put up on X from spokesperson Liz Lyons, mentioned of the NCS 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.”
A NCS spokesperson on Wednesday informed Reuters, “we stand by our reporting.” The media outlet added that the CIA remark had come after publication and didn’t specify what half of the reporting the U.S. company disputes.
The presence of CIA operatives in Mexico has strained the bilateral relationship in latest weeks.
On April 19, two U.S. officers died in a automotive accident within the northern state of Chihuahua after coming back from a Mexican safety operation to dismantle a drug lab. Three sources informed Reuters the officers have been CIA officers.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has mentioned the federal authorities was not conscious the U.S. officers had been concerned within the operation, and has informed the U.S. that unauthorized participation of U.S. officers shouldn’t be repeated.
The presence of U.S. personnel in anti-cartel operations is a deeply delicate matter in Mexico. Sheinbaum has lengthy maintained that she welcomes intelligence sharing and safety cooperation however won’t settle for U.S. brokers or forces collaborating in operations on Mexican territory.
In distinction, U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly known as for larger use of U.S. army pressure to fight Mexican cartels, and has threatened that the U.S. may go it alone if Washington feels Mexico is not doing sufficient.
(Reporting by Diego Ore; Writing by Laura Gottesdiener; Editing by Stephen Eisenhammer and Mark Porter)