Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum arrives at the National Palace to give her daily morning press conference in Mexico City, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday denied a CNN report that the CIA was carrying out deadly operations in Mexican territory, accusing the U.S.-based news organization of attempting to “hurt the government and the people of Mexico.”
CNN reported Tuesday that the CIA facilitated a targeted assassination of a member of the Sinaloa cartel on the highway outside Mexico City, fueling a firestorm in Mexico. The New York Times later reported that Mexican forces carried out the attack and the CIA provided planning and support.
Sheinbaum called the CNN report a “lie.” Asked about the New York Times report during her morning press briefing, she called it “a fiction the size of the universe.”
Liz Lyons, a spokesperson for the CIA, also lambasted the CNN report, posting on X that “this is false and salacious reporting that serves as nothing more than a PR campaign for the cartels and puts American lives at risk.”
