After US media reported an increase in drone flights over Mexican territory, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum insisted that they form part of a yearslong collaboration between the two countries.
The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, insisted on Wednesday that there is “nothing illegal” about US drone flights over Mexican territory after reports in the United States suggested an increase in cross-border aerial surveillance.
“[This] is a coordination and collaboration protocol that has existed for years between the United States and Mexico,” insisted Sheinbaum at her regular morning news conference. “Many times, or rather every time, this is at the request of the Mexican government.”
Why are US drones flying over Mexico?
According to The New York Times, Washington has stepped up secret drone flights over Mexico in search of fentanyl labs as part of US President Donald Trump’s campaign against drug cartels.
Sheinbaum said the legal framework for international agencies fighting crime in Mexico was being evaluated, but she rejected the implication that any action was being taken over the head of the Mexican government.
She accused opponents of instrumentalizing the issue to suggest that “that the president of Mexico is weak, [that] she has given in to espionage by the US government, [that] there is a violation of sovereignty.”
According to The New York Times, the covert program began under Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, but had not been previously disclosed. The drones are operated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which is not authorized to take lethal action. Any information collected is reportedly passed on to Mexican officials.
Sheinbaum’s comments came on the same day that US authorities designated several Mexican drug cartels as global terrorist organizations, according to a US Federal Register notice.
