Mexico’s president denied reports from U.S. media that the CIA was involved in a plot to kill an alleged cartel member inside Mexican territory.
CNN reports that a car explosion near Mexico City that killed an alleged member of the Sinaloa cartel was a “targeted assassination, facilitated by CIA operations officers.”
A CIA spokesperson said on X after the story was published that the reporting is false.
This is false and salacious reporting that serves as nothing more than a PR campaign for the cartels and puts American lives at risk. pic.twitter.com/4HYTQYH90l
— Liz Lyons (@CIASpox) May 12, 2026
The New York Times later reported that while the CIA was involved in planning the killing, it was not on the ground when the car exploded.
In a press conference, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum denied both reports.
“It’s a fiction the size of the universe,” Sheinbaum told reporters.
The reports come less than a month after two U.S. agents were killed in northern Mexico after a counternarcotics operation. Sheinbaum has said those agents were working with local officials and did not have permission from the federal government to be operating inside Mexico.
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