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

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday that reports claiming the CIA was involved in a recent targeted assassination outside Mexico 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.

Video captured by the rear dash camera of a vehicle driving on a highway outside of Mexico City showed another vehicle exploding before it crossed a median into oncoming traffic and crashed to a stop. CBC News verified that the video posted to social media by Mexican news outlet SéUno Noticias was authentic and not manipulated by AI, but has not been able to determine who originally recorded it.

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.

Read more: CBC News