US, Mexican authorities deny claims CIA is assassinating cartel members in Mexico
AUTHORITIES IN MEXICO AND the United States have rejected as “fictions” reports in American and Mexican media that Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) personnel are directly involved in assassination operations against the cartels. Notably The New York Times and CNN reported last week that the CIA participated in the killing of mid-level Sinaloa cartel member Francisco “El Playin” Beltran and his driver. The two men were killed by a car bomb on March 28 in a suburb of Mexico City.
According to the reports, Beltran’s killing was part of a rapidly expanding CIA campaign in Mexico, which aims to eliminate selected mid-tier members of the cartels. Some of the operations allegedly involve the participation of the CIA’s so-called “Ground Branch”, which is the paramilitary and covert action wing of the CIA’s Special Activities Center (SAC). Some Ground Branch members have directly participated in assassination operations in Mexico, either in collaboration with the Mexican authorities or as teams operating independently, according to the reports.
But Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum issued an outright denial of the claims last Wednesday during her weekly media conference in Mexico City, describing them as “fictions the size of the universe”. Sheinbaum’s claims came a day after Omar Harfuch, Mexico’s Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, dismissed the reports as “false and salacious reporting”, adding that they serve as “nothing more than a [public relations] campaign for the cartels and [put] American lives at risk”.
American officials insist that the role of American military and intelligence agencies in anti-cartel operations in Mexico is limited to training and intelligence-sharing, and stress that American government personnel have no direct involvement in these activities. However, there is intense speculation about the death of two American embassy officials in a car crash in April, following their alleged participation in a counter-cartel operation in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. According to The New York Times, the two embassy officials were CIA officers.
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 18 May 2026 | Permalink
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US, Mexican authorities deny claims CIA is assassinating cartel members in Mexico
May 18, 2026 by Joseph Fitsanakis Leave a comment
According to the reports, Beltran’s killing was part of a rapidly expanding CIA campaign in Mexico, which aims to eliminate selected mid-tier members of the cartels. Some of the operations allegedly involve the participation of the CIA’s so-called “Ground Branch”, which is the paramilitary and covert action wing of the CIA’s Special Activities Center (SAC). Some Ground Branch members have directly participated in assassination operations in Mexico, either in collaboration with the Mexican authorities or as teams operating independently, according to the reports.
But Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum issued an outright denial of the claims last Wednesday during her weekly media conference in Mexico City, describing them as “fictions the size of the universe”. Sheinbaum’s claims came a day after Omar Harfuch, Mexico’s Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, dismissed the reports as “false and salacious reporting”, adding that they serve as “nothing more than a [public relations] campaign for the cartels and [put] American lives at risk”.
American officials insist that the role of American military and intelligence agencies in anti-cartel operations in Mexico is limited to training and intelligence-sharing, and stress that American government personnel have no direct involvement in these activities. However, there is intense speculation about the death of two American embassy officials in a car crash in April, following their alleged participation in a counter-cartel operation in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. According to The New York Times, the two embassy officials were CIA officers.
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 18 May 2026 | Permalink
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Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with assassinations, “El Playin", CIA, CIA Special Activities Center, Claudia Sheinbaum, Francisco Beltran, Mexico, News, Omar Harfuch, Sinaloa cartel, United States