Sheinbaum denies DEA: 'We don't validate something that is issued from the US that the Mexican government has not been asked about'

(AFP) Mexico's president, Claudia Sheinbaum, denied Tuesday that there is an agreement with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to participate in a joint project against operators who control the drug trafficking routes on the border.

On Monday, a DEA statement reported that Mexico is collaborating in Project Portero, but the president denied that information. "There is no agreement with the DEA," she said in her morning conference.

The objective of Project Portero, according to the statement, "is to dismantle the cartels' gatekeepers, agents who control the smuggling corridors" on the common border and who are "essential to the operations" of drug gangs.

According to the bulletin released on the DEA's official website, the program involves "Mexican investigators with U.S. authorities, prosecutors, defense officials and members of the intelligence community."

But Sheinbaum maintained that with that institution only a training of Mexican police officers in Texas has been agreed upon, while with the State Department (DOS) an agreement on security matters is about to be concluded.

"Any joint communication is done jointly. We do not validate anything that is issued by an institution of the U.S. Government that the Mexican Government has not been asked about," the president insisted.

Mexico will ask for explanations

The president said that the Mexican Foreign Ministry will ask the U.S. Embassy for an explanation about this announcement and assured that this does not affect the relationship with the United States.

"The relationship continues. There is no problem, there is coordination, collaboration (...) but we have the obligation to clarify," she said.