President Claudia Sheinbaum Slams Washington Interventionism

President Claudia Sheinbaum marked the second anniversary of her  historic election on Sunday with a massive rally in the Plaza de la República in Mexico City. After recounting her administration’s achievements over the first year and a half in office, she dedicated a portion of her speech to the recent events that evidenced U.S. intervention in Mexico. 

President Sheinbaum highlighted the incident in the northern state of Chihuahua where two alleged CIA agents, without official accreditation, died in a car crash with two commanders from the Chihuahua Attorney General’s Office after visiting and participating in the alleged dismantling of a narco-lab. This incident is currently under investigation by Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office (FGR), because  the Constitution and the National Security Law prohibits foreign agents from participating in joint operations on the ground. 

Additionally, she commented on the indictment issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York against the  Governor of Sinaloa and 9 other officials, including a mayor and a federal senator. She noted that while the U.S urgently requested their arrest for extradition purpose, but without presenting any evidence that support that request. 

President Sheinbaum described the latter event as very serious and  unprecedented in the bilateral relationship between Mexico and the U.S. Then she went on to question if the U.S really and genuinely wants to help Mexico, if they legitimately want to combat organized crime, or perhaps the American far-right wants to use the country to position themselves ahead of the U.S. 2026 mid-term elections or try to influence Mexico’s mid-term elections next year.  

“Therefore, I call upon the attention of the people of Mexico, when from abroad dictates who is guilty and who is not; when they seek to pressure our institutions from abroad; when the idea that ‘another country can intervene in matters that belong solely to the Mexicans’ is normalize—we are no longer talking about cooperation, we are talking about interference,” President Sheinbaum emphasized. 

She then went on to say that it is legitimate to question the true intent behind the extradition proceedings of elected officials because “they target one group now, and another later, until the offices within the Department of Justice become the primary elector of Mexico. This we cannot allow.” 

As a result of this strong statement, Ronald Johnson, U.S. ambassador to Mexico, posted a message on his X account: 

“The fight against cartels should unite us, not divide us. People on both sides of our border want to live safely and in peace. They deserve freedom from the intimidation, corruption, and fear that the cartels inflict. Every moment spent turning this shared security challenge into a political dispute is a missed opportunity to strengthen our partnership and protect the people we serve.”

President Sheinbaum reacted to the U.S. Ambassador’s post by  saying that the ambassadors should remain focused on coordination and collaboration and be respectful of the internal political affairs of their host countries. 

Photo: Gobierno de México