CIA Operations in Mexico: Covert Actions Challenge Sheinbaum’s Sovereignty Narrative

Mexico City — A veteran journalist has presented evidence that U.S. intelligence agencies are conducting covert operations inside Mexico, directly contradicting the government’s insistence that foreign agents are not active on its soil.

J. Jesús Esquivel, a correspondent for Proceso magazine, detailed the findings in his program “Proceso desde la Casa Blanca.” He argues that despite President Claudia Sheinbaum’s narrative of intact sovereignty, unilateral operations in states such as Chihuahua and the State of Mexico reveal a “shadow war” operating beyond the control of the presidential palace.

Esquivel points to the execution of Francisco Beltrán, known as “El Payín,” on the Mexico-Pachuca highway as a key example. The use of surgically precise explosives, he says, is not just a message to the Sinaloa Cartel but proof that the CIA’s elite Ground Branch has reactivated combat tactics in Mexican territory. These covert operations allow Washington to maintain “plausible denial” while intervening in Mexico’s internal security, he added.

Beyond the violence, Esquivel’s investigation warns of a long-term political agenda. The CIA’s deployment, he contends, is not solely about tracking criminal targets but also aims to influence the 2026 midterm elections and regain institutional control that Washington considers lost. The systematic denial by Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch and the president herself has not halted an intelligence machinery that operates outside the law and Mexican institutions, he said.