CIA, Mexico Criticize CNN Report Claiming US Directly Participated In Bombing Of Cartels In Mexico

“The Government of Mexico categorically rejects any version that seeks to normalize, justify or suggest the existence of lethal, covert or unilateral operations by foreign agencies on national territory,” he wrote on X. ” CNN and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return a request for comment.

The State of Mexico Attorney General’s Office has also issued a statement that “firmly rejects” any of its members telling journalists that an explosive device had been planted inside Beltrán’s vehicle, contradicting CNN’s reporting. “An explosive device had been hidden inside the vehicle, the State of Mexico’s Attorney General told CNN,” the contested report reads.

The office said its inquiry into the two deaths remains active and that investigators had yet to establish a cause. Tuesday’s dispute follows weeks of compounding friction between Washington and Mexico City over efforts in Mexico to address cartel crimes.

On April 19, two U.S. Embassy employees died in a car crash in Chihuahua state, along with two Mexican state officials . Chihuahua Attorney General César Jáuregui Moreno said the four officials were on their way back from an operation targeting drug laboratories in the municipality of Morelos when the incident occurred.

The two U.S. Embassy employees were later reported by The Associated Press to be CIA agents collaborating with Chihuahua officials—claims the White House did not deny. The White House on April 22 said that U.S. President Donald Trump was dissatisfied with Mexico’s official response to the incident.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum had said that no agents from any U.S. government institution may operate in Mexico without approval from Mexico’s federal government, implying that the operation with local officials in Chihuahua state had not been given the green light by Mexico City.

Also in April, the Department of Justice indicted Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya and nine current and former Sinaloa officials on drug trafficking and weapons charges , a development that has further strained the relationship between Washington and Mexico City.

The U.S. Treasury Department separately imposed sanctions on an international narcotics distribution network linked to the Sinaloa Cartel.

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CIA employee testifies Fauci improperly influenced COVID-19 origin report Erdman also testified that Fauci, who served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, directly inserted himself into IC deliberations about the outbreak of COVID-19 twice.

By Misty Severi Published: May 13, 2026 5:01pm Article Dig Deeper CIA employee James Erdman testified Wednesday to a Senate panel that Dr. Anthony Fauci improperly influenced intelligence reports on the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic in order to downplay findings that it most likely resulted from a lab leak in China.

Erdman's testimony comes after the statute of limitations for prosecution expired Monday and former President Joe Biden also pardoned Fauci, which shielded the former chief medical advisor to Biden from criminal referral for allegedly lying to Congress about gain-of-function research.

Erdman claimed Fauci intentionally participated in the "cover-up" of the COVID-19 origins, stating that he personally provided “a conflicted list of curated subject matter experts, public health officials and scientists” to the US Intelligence Community, according to the New York Post.

“Analytic managers responsible for examining the origin of COVID made decisions inconsistent with the conclusions of subject matter experts and analytical tradecraft, consistently favoring the theory of zoonosis or natural origin," Erdman said. Erdman also testified that Fauci, who served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, directly inserted himself into IC deliberations about the outbreak of COVID-19 twice.

The first time was on Feb. 3, 2020, and again on June 4, 2021, in order to push the "natural origin" narrative. Erdman's testimony comes after he was subpoenaed by the Senate Homeland Security Committee. Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News.

You can follow her on X for more coverage. The Facts Inside Our Reporter's Notebook Links comes according to the New York Post.

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Listen (4 mins) Save Click here to share on social media Share Add Al Jazeera on Google Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum speaks to the media about security during her daily morning news conference in Mexico City on May 12 [Carl De Souza/AFP] By Al Jazeera Staff , AFP and The Associated Press Published On 13 May 2026 13 May 2026 President Claudia Sheinbaum has rejected a media report suggesting that Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives from the United States directly participated in deadly operations targeting drug cartels on Mexican territory.

In her morning news conference on Wednesday, Sheinbaum said that reports, from CNN and The New York Times, about such activity were fictitious. Recommended Stories list of 3 items list 1 of 3 Mexico, CIA reject report of US assassination campaign against cartels list 2 of 3 Mexico’s Sinaloa state governor resigns amid US drug trafficking charges list 3 of 3 Mexico’s Sheinbaum questions US claims of drug ties to Sinaloa governor end of list The CIA has also denied the reports, while CNN has said that it stands by its reporting.

“Imagine how big the lie is if the CIA itself needs to come out and dismiss” the story, Sheinbaum told reporters. She likewise called a New York Times report a “fiction the size of the universe”. It was the highest-level rejection yet to come from the Mexican government since the allegations were made on Tuesday.

Sheinbaum has continued to insist that US law enforcement officials do not directly participate in operations on Mexican soil, despite news reports suggesting otherwise . On Tuesday, CNN quoted anonymous sources as saying that the CIA had engaged in an “expanded and previously unreported” campaign to attack cartels within Mexico, including by directly participating in targeted assassinations.

The report pointed to a March 2026 explosion that killed Francisco Beltran, a member of the Sinaloa Cartel, as well as his driver. Mexico’s security laws require that foreign operatives receive permission from the federal government to operate on the country’s soil.

CNN’s reporting suggested that some of the alleged CIA activity may not have been coordinated with Mexico’s government, however. Advertisement While Sheinbaum’s government has acknowledged sharing intelligence with the US, it has rejected the prospect of US forces operating without its permission on Mexican territory.

The recent CNN report has prompted condemnation on both sides of the US-Mexico border. In a social media post , CIA spokesperson Liz Lyons called the report a case of “false and salacious reporting that serves as nothing more than a PR campaign for the cartels and puts American lives at risk”.

Mexico’s Security Secretary Omar Harfuch, meanwhile, acknowledged that cooperation between the two governments “does exist”. However, he, too, asserted that the CNN report was inaccurate. “The Government of Mexico categorically rejects any narrative that seeks to normalize, justify, or suggest the existence of lethal, covert, or unilateral operations by foreign agencies within national territory,” he wrote on social media.

CNN has said it stands by the accuracy of its reporting. Its report is the latest incident in which CIA agents were rumoured to be operating in Mexico, potentially without Mexican federal permission. In April, for instance, two US officials, widely believed to have been CIA officers, also died in a car accident while returning with Mexican security forces from a raid on a drug facility.

Sheinbaum’s government has denied knowledge of any CIA involvement in drug-busting operations and called for an investigation into the incident. State officials in Chihuahua, meanwhile, have argued that the two US officials were simply getting a lift to the airport from Mexican law enforcement agents, after overseeing instruction on how to operate drones.

But questions about the possibility of covert US operations on Mexican soil have increased since President Donald Trump took office for a second term in 2025. Trump has sought to exert influence over Mexico’s policies in areas such as crime, border enforcement and drug trafficking , using tariffs on imported goods as leverage.

He has also threatened to take unilateral action against Mexico’s criminal networks, despite Sheinbaum’s insistence that such a move would violate the country’s sovereignty . “We have to eradicate them,” Trump said of Mexico’s cartels in March. “We have to knock the hell out of them because they’re getting worse.

They’re taking over their country. The cartels are running Mexico. We can’t have that. ” While Mexico and the US have long collaborated on anti-drug efforts in the form of intelligence sharing and security cooperation, direct US involvement has been seen as a red line in the country with a long history of US intervention .