A day after the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced “a major new initiative to strengthen collaboration between the United States and Mexico in the fight against cartels,” President Claudia Sheinbaum declared that her government hasn’t entered into any agreement with the DEA.
“I want to make a clarification,” Sheinbaum told reporters at her Tuesday morning press conference.
🔴 #ÚLTIMAHORA 🔴
🗣️ “La DEA emite el comunicado, no sabemos con base en qué. Nosotros no hemos llegado a ningún acuerdo”.
🚨 La presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum desmiente colaboración con la DEA para la creación del Proyecto Portero. Señala que el único acuerdo que se trabaja en… pic.twitter.com/Br67hrjm6I
— El Universal (@El_Universal_Mx) August 19, 2025
“Yesterday, the DEA issued a statement saying that there is an agreement with the government of Mexico for an operation that they call [Project] Portero. There is no agreement with the DEA,” she said.
Sheinbaum said that her government didn’t know “the basis” on which the DEA issued the statement.
“We haven’t reached any agreement, none of the security institutions [have reached an agreement] with the DEA. The only thing there is, is a group of police from the Ministry of Security and Citizens’ Protection that is participating in a workshop in Texas. That’s all there is, there is nothing else,” she said.
The DEA statement
“DEA Launches Bold Bilateral Initiative to Dismantle Cartel Gatekeepers and Combat Synthetic Drug Trafficking.” That is the title of the statement the DEA issued on Monday.
In the statement, the DEA announced what it called “a major new initiative to strengthen collaboration between the United States and Mexico in the fight against cartels.”
The “trafficking networks” of cartels “are responsible for flooding American communities with deadly synthetic drugs,” the agency said.
The DEA said that “at the core” of the effort to combat cartels is Project Portero, “DEA’s flagship operation aimed at dismantling cartel ‘gatekeepers,’ operatives who control the smuggling corridors along the Southwest Border.”
“Gatekeepers are essential to cartel operations, directing the flow of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine into the United States while ensuring the movement of firearms and bulk cash back into Mexico. By specifically targeting them, DEA and its partners are striking at the heart of cartel command-and-control,” the agency said.
𝐃𝐄𝐀 𝐋𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐁𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐁𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐥 𝐆𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐃𝐫𝐮𝐠 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠. #DEACartelExperts
Read more: https://t.co/wrmf6kSXiD pic.twitter.com/yvwgTAauBK
— DEA HQ (@DEAHQ) August 18, 2025
The DEA subsequently referred to the training that Sheinbaum acknowledged that Mexican police are undertaking in the United States.
To “advance” Project Portero, “DEA has launched a multi-week training and collaboration program at one of its intelligence centers on the Southwest Border,” the agency said.
“The program brings together Mexican investigators with U.S. law enforcement, prosecutors, defense officials, and members of the intelligence community. Over the course of several weeks, participants will identify joint targets, develop coordinated enforcement strategies, and strengthen the exchange of intelligence,” the DEA said.
DEA Administrator Terrance Cole said that “Project Portero and this new training program show how we will fight by planning and operating side by side with our Mexican partners.”
“… This is a bold first step in a new era of cross-border enforcement, and we will pursue it relentlessly until these violent organizations are dismantled,” Cole said.
The DEA said that “this initiative reflects Administrator Cole’s broader priorities: recommitting DEA to enforcement, dismantling cartels designated as terrorist organizations, and strengthening collaboration with foreign counterparts.”
“While fentanyl is the most urgent threat, Project Portero addresses all aspects of cartel criminal activity — from drug smuggling to weapons trafficking to illicit finance — that cross the border and endanger American communities,” the statement concluded.
Sheinbaum: ‘We don’t know why they issued this statement’
Sheinbaum told her Tuesday press conference that her government doesn’t know why the DEA issued “this statement.”
“On security matters, the only thing there is with the United States government is … an agreement that is practically ready, or already ready, with the U.S. Department of State,” she said.
“They are the four principles,” she said.
“… That is the formal security agreement. … It’s the only agreement,” Sheinbaum said.
She said there is communication between Mexican and U.S. security authorities, but no agreement “for a particular operation” — such as that announced by the DEA.
“It’s important to clarify this because any joint communication is done together. We don’t validate something that is issued by a United States government institution that the government of Mexico hasn’t been asked about,” Sheinbaum said.
The publication of the DEA statement and Sheinbaum’s denial that there is any agreement with the agency to carry out a joint operation comes a week after Mexican and U.S. authorities announced that 26 organized crime figures had been sent to the U.S., marking the second large transfer of Mexican prisoners to the U.S. this year.
Last Wednesday, a U.S. government drone departed Texas and flew south to airspace over a part of México state that is a stronghold of La Nueva Familia Michoacana, one of six Mexican criminal groups that the U.S. designated as foreign terrorist organizations earlier this year. Security Minister Omar García Harfuch said that the flight occurred at the request of the Mexican government.
U.S. President Donald Trump has been pressuring Mexico to do more to combat drug cartels, including by imposing 25% tariffs on Mexican goods not covered by the USMCA free trade pact. In turn, the Mexican government wants the U.S. to do more to stop the southward flow of weapons, and there is evidence that the Trump administration is heeding that message.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
