Washington DC [US], May 13 : The US government's foreign intelligence service, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), has significantly escalated covert operations against drug cartels inside Mexico, including alleged targeted killings and expanded intelligence-driven missions, according to a CNN report citing multiple sources familiar with the operations.
According to CNN, the report claimed that earlier this year, an alleged Sinaloa Cartel operative, Francisco Beltran--also known as "El Payin"--was killed in a car explosion on a highway near Mexico City.
Mexican security analysts and sources cited in the report said Beltran was a mid-level cartel member.
According to CNN, Mexican authorities have maintained secrecy around the incident, but sources familiar with the case claimed the attack was a targeted assassination involving CIA operations officers.
The State of Mexico's Attorney General reportedly confirmed that an explosive device had been placed inside the vehicle.
The report further alleged that the operation was part of an expanded and previously unreported CIA campaign inside Mexico aimed at dismantling cartel networks.
CNN cited multiple sources as saying the agency's elite Ground Branch unit has been involved in a broader push against organised crime groups.
"The lethality of their operations has been seriously ramped up," one source told CNN, adding, "It's a significant expansion of the kind of thing the CIA has been willing to do inside Mexico."
Sources cited by CNN said CIA involvement in operations has varied from intelligence-sharing support to direct participation in alleged assassination missions.
The CIA declined to comment on the allegations.
However, after publication of the report, CIA spokesperson Liz Lyons said, "This is false and salacious reporting that serves as nothing more than a PR campaign for the cartels and puts American lives at risk."
The report also said that CIA activities in Mexico are modelled on counterterrorism-style operations used in the Middle East, aimed at dismantling entire cartel networks by targeting both leadership and lower-level operatives.
It further claimed that CIA operatives have recently supported both lethal and non-lethal operations, including intelligence assistance that led to arrests of cartel figures in coordination with Mexican forces.
However, Mexican officials strongly rejected the allegations.
Mexico's Secretary of Security, Omar Garcia Harfuch, said in a post on X, "The Government of Mexico categorically rejects any version that seeks to normalise, justify, or suggest the existence of lethal, covert, or unilateral operations by foreign agencies on national territory."
The CNN report also noted concerns that such operations may not always be fully coordinated with the Mexican federal government, raising questions over legality under Mexican constitutional provisions that restrict foreign participation in law enforcement activities.
It added that tensions have increased between US and Mexican authorities over counter-cartel operations, even as both sides continue cooperation in intelligence sharing and targeted arrests, as reported by CNN.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, according to the report, expressed strong opposition after a separate incident involving US personnel, stating, "There cannot be agents from any US government institution operating in the Mexican field."
The report further detailed that US-Mexico counter-narcotics cooperation has traditionally been led by agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), but CIA involvement has reportedly expanded in recent months amid growing concerns over cartel infiltration of local institutions.
US officials, however, maintained that cooperation with Mexico continues.
A US State Department spokesperson said, "The United States and Mexico continue to take decisive bilateral action to disrupt and dismantle the transnational cartels that threaten communities on both sides of the border."