Mexico-US Diplomatic Tensions Over Ryan Wedding Detention

The detention of Ryan Wedding, a former Olympian and alleged leader of an international drug trafficking network, has opened a new chapter of diplomatic tension between Mexico and the United States, after both governments offered contradictory versions about how the accused came into the custody of US authorities.

The case began on January 23, when the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Omar García Harfuch, reported that Wedding had voluntarily surrendered at the United States Embassy in Mexico. This version was later supported by the US Ambassador, Ronald Johnson, who stated that pressure from joint surveillance by both countries led the former athlete to surrender, highlighting bilateral cooperation as a key factor.

However, the narrative changed on the US side. Both US Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel publicly highlighted the work of their agents to “capture” and “detain” Wedding, whom they even compared to Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán due to the case’s significance.

The controversy intensified when Patel declared in an interview that an operation was carried out with forces from both countries, which would imply possible action by foreign agents on Mexican territory, reigniting the debate about respect for national sovereignty. This was compounded by the version from Wedding’s defense, which told media outlets that their client was arrested, not that he voluntarily surrendered.

Amid the conflicting accounts, the Mexican federal government released a photograph of Wedding in front of the United States Embassy, supposedly taken moments before his surrender. However, the image generated new doubts after the Canadian network CBC suggested it might have been generated or altered with artificial intelligence, upon detecting alleged digital anomalies.

Faced with the escalation of accusations, as reported by Sol, President Claudia Sheinbaum stated that the information about Wedding’s voluntary surrender came from the US authorities themselves, and denied the existence of a joint operation in Mexico. “We have no reason to doubt either the ambassador or what they told us here in Mexico. Why they declare that over there is something they have to comment on,” she maintained.

Regarding the controversy over the image, the president denied that it was content generated with artificial intelligence, arguing that there is no distinctive mark or notice indicating alteration, in accordance with social media usage policies.

The Wedding case remains under public scrutiny, not only due to the severity of the accusations against him, but also because of the diplomatic implications that could arise from the conflicting versions between both governments.