US Indicts Senior Mexican Official and Nine Others for Sinaloa Cartel Ties as Reports of CIA Anti-Cartel Operations Surface

President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected accusations of high-level collusion with drug traffickers and denied any CIA presence in Mexico on Wednesday, even as fresh American allegations intensified pressure on bilateral relations. ” She added, “We want a good relationship with the United States government. What are our limits?

Sheinbaum was equally blunt about reports of CIA involvement. “It’s false that CIA agents operate in our territory. It’s a fiction about the size of the universe,” she said. The remarks came one day after DEA director Terry Cole testified before the US Senate.

US acting attorney general Todd Blanche had stated last week that there would be more charges against Mexican officials for links to cartels. The US justice department charged Rubén Rocha Moya and nine other current and former Mexican officials for alleged ties to the Sinaloa cartel. The charges accused them of aiding the massive importation of illicit drugs into the United States.

The indictment of the high-ranking Morena party member came with almost no prior warning. Relations have been strained despite concrete Mexican cooperation. In the last year the Mexican government has transferred nearly 100 cartel members to face justice in the US.

Mexican forces killed the leader of the country’s most powerful cartel in February with US intelligence support. ” Tensions rose further last month when reports emerged that several CIA agents were involved in a raid on a drug lab in northern Mexico without approval or prior knowledge from the Mexican federal government.

On Tuesday, CNN published a report alleging that the CIA’s Ground Branch unit facilitated the March assassination of a mid-level cartel member killed by a car bomb on one of Mexico’s busiest highways during the day.

CNN reported that the CIA had been involved in multiple deadly attacks on cartel members since last year. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to send troops into Mexico. Last week Trump stated that a “land force” was already operating in Mexico.

He added, “You’ll hear some complaints from … representatives from Mexico and other places. ” Jesús Pérez Caballero, an expert on US-Mexico relations at the College of the Northern Border, said Mexico has to be constantly on the defensive. The US, Mexico and Canada are jointly hosting the Fifa World Cup this summer.

The Guardian reported that despite months of calm demeanor from Sheinbaum, the cascade of accusations and covert-operation reports has pushed her into a delicate balancing act between domestic political demands and pressure from Washington.