At her Friday morning press conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke about the risk of immigration raids taking place in the United States as U.S.-based Mexicans celebrate Mexico’s Independence Day.
She also revealed that she will meet with the prime minister of Canada in Mexico City next week, and rejected a Reuters report that claimed that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) “works closely with special narco-hunting units inside the Mexican military.”
Mexicans in US should ‘be careful’ when celebrating Mexico’s Independence Day due to risk of detention
A reporter asked the president whether she would add her voice to the “call” of Foreign Affairs Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente for Mexicans in the United States to not celebrate Mexico’s Independence Day due to the risk of immigration raids taking place.
Sheinbaum rightly pointed out that the foreign minister did not in fact say that.
“Rather than not celebrating,” Mexicans in the US should “be careful,” she said.
“That is the guidance he gave,” Sheinbaum said.
“… El Grito is always done in the [Mexican] consulates and it will be done in all of Mexico’s consulates in the world, not just in the United States,” she said, referring to the annual reenactment of priest Miguel Hidalgo’s “Cry of Dolores” that marked the start of the Mexican War of Independence in 1810.
“It’s a celebration of our independence,” Sheinbaum added.
She acknowledged, however, that “the conditions that there are at this time in the United States” were a factor to consider ahead of El Grito festivities on Monday night and Mexico’s Independence Day next Tuesday Sept. 16.
She was, of course, referring to the risk of immigration raids taking place in public places where Mexicans are celebrating Mexico’s independence.
U.S. President Donald Trump last year pledged that his administration would carry out “the largest deportation operation in American history.”
While achieving that goal is a long way off, tens of thousands of Mexicans have been arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement this year, including in raids carried out in California, and at a Hyundai plant in Georgia last week.
Organizers of El Grito Chicago, the city’s Mexican Independence Day festival, canceled this year’s two-day celebration in Grant Park, citing fears of heightened immigration enforcement. Similar events in Los Angeles and other U.S. cities have been canceled or scaled back.
Sheinbaum: Canadian PM will visit Mexico next week
Sheinbaum said that she would meet with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the National Palace in Mexico City next Thursday, Sept. 18.
“He’ll be here at the National Palace the whole day. We’re going to have several meetings, and we’ll give a joint press conference the same day,” she said.
“… Then, on the 19th, he’ll have some meetings and return to Canada,” Sheinbaum said.
The president indicated that trade will be a key focus of her discussions with Carney, with whom she met at the G7 Summit in Canada in June.
“We both have a lot of trade with the United States, but there is also a lot of Mexico–Canada trade, because of the treaty,” she said, referring to the USMCA free trade pact.
Both Mexico and Canada send the majority of their exports to the United States, and the U.S. government has slapped new tariffs on goods from both countries. Sheinbaum said in July that she and Carney had agreed to strengthen trade collaboration in light of the United States’ protectionist agenda. The two countries could conceivably support each other during the USMCA review process, which is scheduled for 2026.
Sheinbaum indicated that Canadian investment in Mexico will also be a subject of discussion with Carney.
“There is also a lot of investment from Canadian businesspeople in Mexico. One case is mining, which has its particular features, and, as we have always said, has to comply with all environmental regulations. But there are other investments. There are investments, for example, in natural gas,” Sheinbaum said.
She also said that there are Canadian companies that are interested in investing in Mexico. Sheinbaum promoted investment opportunities in Mexico to a group of prominent Canadian business leaders during her visit to Canada in June.
Sheinbaum rejects Reuters report
A reporter asked Sheinbaum about a Reuters report published this week under the headline “Inside the CIA’s secret fight against Mexico’s drug cartels.”
The subhead reads: “Working with special Mexican army and navy units, the CIA for years has been running covert operations to hunt down Mexico’s most-wanted narcos, a Reuters investigation finds.”
Sheinbaum denounced the report as “false.”
“In that report it is said that there are CIA agents working with the Mexican Army in operations. It is absolutely false, it is not true,” she said.
“What there is, as we have always said, is coordination and cooperation in information,” Sheinbaum said.
“… But it’s not true that there are CIA agents in Mexican Army operations. That is totally false,” she said.
Sheinbaum said that her government had been contacted by Reuters and told the news agency that there was no “foundation” for its claims.
A Reuters spokesperson said on Friday that “Reuters stands by its report of earlier this week on the CIA’s secret role in combating Mexico’s drug cartels, which was mischaracterized today by the Mexican government.”
Reuters report was published a week after Mexico and the United States announced the creation of a high-level security “implementation group” during a visit to Mexico City by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
A statement released at the time said that “the Governments of Mexico and the United States reaffirm our security cooperation, which is based on the principles of reciprocity, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, shared and differentiated responsibility, as well as mutual trust.”
Sheinbaum has made the defense of Mexico’s sovereignty a hallmark of her presidency, and has said on repeated occasions that combating cartels in Mexico is a responsibility of the Mexican government. Mexico and the United States should take action against organized crime in their own territory, she has said.
Sheinbaum revealed in May that she had rejected an offer from Trump to send the U.S. army into Mexico to combat organized crime.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
