Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum gives her daily morning press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
MUMEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday that surveillance drone flights by the U.S. government over Mexico are occurring in collaboration with and at the request of her government.
They come as U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has increased pressure on Mexico to do more to stop the production of the synthetic opioid fentanyl that is smuggled north to the United States.
Earlier this month, Trump threatened, then on Mexican imports that he said were meant to push Mexico to take more action against its drug cartels. Trump also ordered on his first day in office the . Those designations will be published in Thursday’s edition of the Federal Register, according to a notice Wednesday.
Mexico responded to the tariff threat by to the northern border.
The drone flights were reported Tuesday by the New York Times as a Central Intelligence Agency program aimed at locating fentanyl labs in northwestern Mexico. The flights follow U.S. military statements that it had increased surveillance capabilities along the countries’ shared border. The CIA declined to comment in response to questions about the drone flights.
Mexico’s Defense Secretary Ricardo Trevilla addressed the flights by U.S. military planes last week, saying that they had not entered Mexican airspace, but that he couldn’t rule out they were spying because he didn’t know what they were doing.
Sheinbaum on Wednesday presented a more detailed explanation.
“These flights are part of the coordination … collaborations that have been going on for many years, between the United States government and the Mexican government,†Sheinbaum said at her daily press briefing. “Every time it is at Mexico’s request for collaboration, for information to be able to attend to security conditions.â€
She said the information gathered was shared with Mexican authorities.
____
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at
¹ú²úÓÕ»ó¸£Àû. All rights reserved.
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Tax: | |
| Today's total: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
