Arrest of Olympic snowboarder triggers new concerns about sovereignty in Mexico
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum reiterated that operations on Mexican soil are always carried out by Mexican forces, in her latest attempt to allay concerns about a U.S. invasion of Mexican sovereignty.
The comments made at his daily news conference Thursday come after questions about the case of a former Olympic snowboarder accused of drug trafficking, who was recently sent to the United States to face charges.
Sheinbaum and US Ambassador Ronald Johnson have insisted that Canadian Ryan Wedding, who was hiding in Mexico, turned himself in at the US embassy last week, something his lawyer denies.
That version was contradicted by FBI Director Kash Patel, who said that the fugitive accused of moving drugs to the United States was captured in a “high-risk” joint operation carried out “hand in hand” and “on the ground” with Mexican forces.
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On Thursday, Sheinbaum spoke with Trump by phone, as part of the two leaders’ ongoing dialogue on trade and security, but they did not discuss Wedding’s arrest, he said.
Sheinbaum acknowledged earlier this week that he did not know the details of the arrest and did not want to argue with Patel.
But he addressed current concerns about American intervention in Mexico.
“We will never accept joint operations from the United States… operations in our territory are carried out by Mexican forces… we always tell President Trump that,” he insisted Thursday after the call.
Instead, Sheinbaum said the leaders talked about drug trafficking, the border and trade, as the Mexican president seeks to defuse Trump’s growing threats of military action against the cartels.
The controversy surrounding Wedding’s arrest has resurfaced anxiety about how US agencies operate on Mexican soil, especially in the wake of the US military operation in Venezuela earlier this month, which deposed former President Nicolás Maduro.
Since then, Trump has repeatedly stressed his desire to fight cartels on land, an escalation of attacks on ships carried out in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
Sheinbaum has repeatedly said he would not allow unilateral U.S. military intervention in the country over concerns about Mexican sovereignty, but has promoted bilateral cooperation between the two neighbors.
The Mexican president said that in this latest conversation Trump did not press for any operations in Mexico, but that they did discuss the most recent transfer of dozens of imprisoned cartel members to the United States, which observers have described as an offer from the Sheinbaum government.