Sheinbaum denies CIA involvement in assassination of cartel operative on Mexican soil

Mexican chairwoman Claudia Sheinbaum said midweek that reports claiming the CIA was mired in a recent targeted assassination exterior united mexican states City were "fictions the size of the universe." 

CNN and the New York Times reported Tuesday that the CIA was involved in the targeted car bombing of a mid-level Sinaloa cartel member on March 28. 

The explosion left suspected Sinaloa cartel member Francisco "El Playin" Beltran and his driver dead. 

"Only imagine that there are agents of the CIA operating on our national territory to kill or eliminate someone. Imagine the size of the construction of such a lie in a report of this size," said Sheinbaum, during her regular weekday morning media conference. 

Mexico's Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection Omar Harfuch immediately denied the reports Tuesday evening in a post on social media platform X. CIA spokesperson Liz Lyons followed Harfuch's post with her own carrying the agency's official denial. 

"This is false and salacious reporting that serves as nothing more than a [public relations] campaign for the cartels and puts American lives at risk," Lyons wrote. 

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The reports come in the wake of still swirling controversy around the April car crash-deaths of two U.S. Officials — reportedly CIA agents — following a state law enforcement operation in Chihuahua to dismantle a methamphetamine production laboratory.

The Sinaloa cartel became a target for U.S. Authorities in recent years after Biden-era officials identified the organization for being the biggest supplier of fentanyl to the U.S., according to court records.

The Sheinbaum government says it did not know that the U.S. Officials were operating on Mexican soil, something it says would run counter to the law. 

The federal Attorney General's Office is currently investigating the case. Chihuahua's Governor Maria Eugenia Campos Galván has denied she knew of the U.S. Officials involvement in the operation.  

David Saucedo, a Mexico City security analyst, said the reports of the CIA involvement in a targeted assassination on Mexican soil are plausible given the history of the agency in Latin America.

Saucedo said the CIA used the same tactics battling guerilla groups in Colombia during the 1990s. "And to me, it appears to be normal for the Mexican and U.S. Authorities to deny this."

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Saucedo said Beltran, the alleged target in the bombing, was a key figure in the logistics operations of the Sinaloa cartel's drug smuggling operations. 

He said Beltran was also at one point in charge of regional operations for the criminal organization and was believed to be aligned with the faction loyal to Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, a one-time leader of the Sinaloa cartel. 

"His assassination signified a major loss for the cartel's operations," said Saucedo. 

"Surely by now they have already begun to quickly identify the figures who can take over his functions." 

It's impossible to know why Beltran was targeted in the car bombing without seeing the other pieces of the puzzle in this alleged CIA operation, he said. 

The Sinaloa cartel has been fractured by a civil war that has roiled the state of Sinaloa for nearly 20 months. According to Saucedo, it's unclear which side Beltran was on at the time of his death.

The conflict exploded after one of the sons of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán Loera, Joaquín Guzmán López, lured Zambada to a meeting in July 2024, kidnapped him and put him on a plane that flew to New Mexico. Guzmán López surrendered to U.S. Authorities and handed over Zambada and they both remain in custody. 

Sheinbaum said during Wednesday's news conference that many questions remain around U.S. Law enforcement's role in the kidnapping of Zambada that "unleashed" violence across Sinaloa.

"For those dedicated to investigating these themes, it would be interesting to review how this situation unfolded," said Sheinbaum, Wednesday. Thousands of people have been killed or disappeared during the Sinaloa cartel's civil war.

Guzmán López claimed that former Sinaloa governor Rubén Rocha would be attending the meeting that drew Zambada to a ranch on the outskirts of Culiacán where he was kidnapped, according to a letter released by Zambada's lawyer.

Rocha, a member of Sheinbaum's party, stepped down from the governorship earlier this month after the U.S. Unsealed an indictment claiming he made a deal with the sons of El Chapo to win state elections in 2021 in exchange for handing over the state security apparatus to their criminal organization.

The U.S. Requested Rocha's extradition, but the Mexican government has said it needs more evidence before moving to detain the high-profile politician. 

Reporter

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