Mexico rejects DEA Portero claim, asserts sovereignty

Mexico’s president on Tuesday rejected a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announcement of a joint operation against cartel “gatekeepers,” saying no agreement exists with the DEA and emphasizing that any formal accord would come from the Mexican government as a whole. The clash comes as Washington described Project Portero as a flagship bilateral initiative to disrupt cross-border smuggling networks, while Mexico’s leadership stressed sovereignty and coordinated processes rather than agency-to-agency deals.

In a morning press conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters that there is no agreement with the DEA and questioned the basis for the agency’s statement. “The DEA issued this statement, we don’t know based on what. We have not reached any agreement, none of the security institutions have with the DEA,” she said, adding that the only related activity she could confirm was a workshop in Texas involving four Mexican police officers. She drew a distinction between a broader security framework being negotiated between Mexico and the United States and any single-Agency announcement, stressing that Mexico signs agreements with the U.S. government, not with...