President Claudia Sheinbaum used her morning press conference on Wednesday to publicly draw a line at any direct US law-enforcement or military activity on Mexican soil, telling reporters that American agencies "may coordinate, but may not act" inside the country. The remarks were the sharpest public statement of her sovereignty position since the US Justice Department's April 29 indictment of the governor of Sinaloa state on cartel-collaboration charges.
Ms Sheinbaum was responding to questions about a Wall Street Journal report that US Drug Enforcement Administration personnel had been embedded with a Mexican navy unit during an early-May raid in Sinaloa that resulted in the seizure of two tons of fentanyl precursors. The Mexican government has not formally confirmed or denied that account.
The president framed the issue as a matter of constitutional principle rather than a response to any specific incident. She cited Article 89 of the Mexican constitution and the 1955 Bilateral Security Cooperation framework, which limits US law-enforcement presence to liaison roles. Coordination, she said, would continue to flow through the bilateral working group chaired on the US side by Homeland Security.
The line-drawing follows weeks in which President Donald Trump has publicly mused about unilateral US military strikes on Mexican fentanyl-production sites. Ms Sheinbaum has repeatedly said no such strike would be tolerated, but Wednesday's remarks were the first time she has spelled out in detail what she does and does not consider acceptable under existing cooperation.
The Sinaloa governor indictment continues to colour relations. Ms Sheinbaum has cast doubt on the US prosecutors' case against Ruben Rocha Moya, calling some of the underlying allegations "politically convenient" and demanding that Washington share its evidentiary file. The Justice Department has shared a partial dossier through bilateral channels but has declined to make any of the underlying material public.
The morning was also used to introduce the new agriculture minister, Columba Jasmin Lopez, who replaces Julio Berdegue. Ms Sheinbaum said the change was driven by the priority of accelerating agricultural-sector reform ahead of next year's USMCA review.