Mexico City, Mexico — Mexico has denied a recent Reuters investigation claiming the United States government is pressuring Mexico into extraditing politicians linked with organized crime.
In the report, unnamed sources familiar with the matter claimed that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio requested on three occasions for Mexico to launch an unprecedented crackdown into elected officials with suspected ties to drug cartels.
The story also reports that U.S. officials were pushing Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to investigate officials from her own MORENA party.
Through social media, the Mexican Foreign Ministry addressed the report, calling it false.
“It is absolutely false that in the meetings held with Secretary Rubio or his State Department team, requests to investigate, prosecute, or extradite any Mexican official have been conveyed,” read the statement.
According to Mexico, the two neighbors have disclosed the content of their meetings, which have focused solely on searching for agreements on “various issues based on the principles of sovereignty, coordination without subordination, and respect for human rights.”
The statement went on, “Both the Mexican Foreign Ministry itself and the U.S. State Department have given a transparent account of the various conversations held between the two countries on various issues, including security.”
In recent months, Mexico has catered to some of the U.S. administration’s security demands, including extraditing 29 high-profile alleged criminals in February.
Despite Mexico’s efforts, diplomatic tensions between the countries are rising. Shienbaum recently criticized the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation measures saying, “The Mexicans that live in the United States are good, honest men and women … They’re not criminals.”
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem accused Sheinbaum of encouraging violence in anti-immigration enforcement protests that broke out in Los Angeles and other major U.S. cities in recent days.
“We condemn violence, no matter where it comes from,” Sheinbaum said on June 9 in reference to the protests.
On June 11, Sheinbaum addressed Noem’s claims during her morning briefing saying, “This misrepresentation that a statement, three weeks ago, had anything to do with what was happening in Los Angeles that night has absolutely nothing to do with it. And it’s misrepresenting, because whoever uploads these posts on their social media knows it’s a lie; they’re deliberately lying — deliberately lying,” she said.
Featured image via Mexico’s Foreign Ministry
