The C.I.A. provided intelligence and planning support for a recent operation against a cartel operative inside Mexico, but was not on the ground when Mexican authorities killed the man, according to a former official and others briefed on the operation.
On Tuesday, CNN reported that the C.I.A. had been involved in the assassination of Francisco Beltran, a midlevel cartel operative, in March in what the outlet called an “expanded” C.I.A. campaign inside the country. The operative was killed when an explosive ripped through his car on the outskirts of Mexico City, which was widely reported at the time. But CNN’s report said the incident “was a targeted assassination, facilitated by C.I.A. operations officers.”
The report also said that the C.I.A. has participated in multiple “deadly attacks” on Mexican cartel members since last year, with the agency’s level of involvement varying.
The former official and others briefed on the operation said the C.I.A. provided intelligence on the cartel operative’s location and was involved in the planning of the assassination. It is not clear to what extent the C.I.A. participated in the planning. But C.I.A. officers were not present on the site of the attack and were not advising the Mexicans in person when the operation was carried out, the former official and those briefed said. They spoke under the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive operation and intelligence collection.
The CNN story comes at a particularly sensitive time in the countries’ ties, amid mounting pressure from the Trump administration on Mexico to do more to combat cartels and drug trafficking. President Trump has threatened unilateral military action inside Mexico unless the Mexican government does more to counter the criminal groups.
But President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico has dismissed such threats, insisting that American boots on the ground would violate her country’s sovereignty. Instead, she has said, Mexico welcomes American assistance in the form of intelligence sharing and training — nothing more.
“What has been agreed upon with the U.S. government — and has been very clear — is that information is shared and there is extensive joint intelligence work that allows federal forces to operate within our country’s territory and U.S. forces within theirs,” Ms. Sheinbaum said last month in a news conference.
The CNN report could further strain the bilateral relationship between the United States and Mexico, as the Mexican government insists that its own security forces, not American, are leading all counter cartel operations inside Mexico.
The Mexican government was swift to deny the story on Tuesday evening.
“The Government of Mexico categorically rejects any version that seeks to normalize, justify, or suggest the existence of lethal, covert, or unilateral operations by foreign agencies on national territory,” Omar García Harfuch, Mexico’s security secretary, posted on X.
The C.I.A. on Tuesday evening also denied CNN’s report. “This is false and salacious reporting,” Liz Lyons, a C.I.A. spokeswoman, said in a statement posted on X.
U.S. officials have previously said that C.I.A. officers have been advising Mexican forces in anti-narcotics operations, jointly stationed in command centers inside Mexico. But the American intelligence agents have no on-the-ground role, they insist, and their presence is limited to those joint command centers.
Both American and Mexican security officials have repeatedly said their cooperation is limited to intelligence sharing and training, with no on the ground role for U.S. forces.
In February, the C.I.A. shared intelligence with Mexican forces that helped them to capture and kill Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as El Mencho, the longtime leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. The drug organization is one of the world’s largest criminal enterprises.
The U.S.-Mexico bilateral relationship came under additional scrutiny last month, when two C.I.A. agents were killed in a car accident while driving back from a counter-cartel operation led by Mexican security officials in Chihuahua state.
The episode set off a tense standoff between Ms. Sheinbaum and the government of Chihuahua. She has repeatedly said her security cabinet had no knowledge of C.I.A. activities on the ground in the state and warned that they may have been illegal, launching a federal investigation into the matter.
She also demanded that the United States clarify the role of the two C.I.A. agents to determine whether it violated Mexico’s security laws, which bar foreign agents from operating in the country without prior federal authorization. The Mexican government said that the two C.I.A. officers had no formal authorization to carry out operations in the country.
Julian E. Barnes covers the U.S. intelligence agencies and international security matters for The Times. He has written about security issues for more than two decades.
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