Hours after the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announced “a major new initiative” for collaboration with Mexico to target criminal gatekeepers controlling cross-border smuggling routes, Mexico’s president flatly denied that any such agreement exists.
President Claudia Sheinbaum, speaking at her morning news conference Tuesday, rejected the DEA’s description of “Project Portero,” which the agency unveiled a day earlier as a “flagship operation” aimed at disrupting the networks moving drugs, firearms, and money across the U.S.-Mexico border.
“The DEA put out a statement yesterday saying that there is an agreement with the Mexican government for an operation called Portero,” Sheinbaum said. “There is no agreement with the DEA. The DEA puts out this statement, based on what we don’t know. We have not reached any agreement, none of the security institutions (have) with the DEA.”
Sheinbaum clarified that the only ongoing activity was a workshop in Texas attended by four members of Mexico’s police force.
The DEA statement had pointed to that workshop, describing it as an exercise where Mexican investigators trained at one of its intelligence centers alongside U.S. prosecutors, defense and law enforcement officials, and members of the intelligence community.
This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.
This article includes reporting by the Associated Press.
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