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Mexico’s president denies bombshell spying accusations

Mexico’s president is denying a bombshell report that found his government has continued using a controversial surveillance tool.

Earlier this week, a digital rights advocacy group released a reportthat found that at least two journalists and a human rights defender had their phones infected with the spyware Pegasus during President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration. López Obrador had promised to end the use of the powerful tool, which was employed widely by the previous administration and can access the content of phones and turn on their microphones and cameras.

Asked by one of the outletsthat broke news of the more recent usage whether he was aware that the Defense Ministry had apparently purchased Pegasus during his presidency, López Obrador denied that journalists and opponents were being spied on and asked for evidence. Presented with some of the report's key findings, he repeated his denials.

Murphy Woodhouse was a senior field correspondent at KJZZ from 2018 to 2023.