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The President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, stated this Wednesday that the operation that led to the downfall of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias El Mencho, was carried out entirely by Mexican forces, following former President Donald Trump's claim of credit during his State of the Union address.
"We have already explained what the collaboration was (from the United States in the operation), which was essentially in intelligence and information. And the entire operation was carried out by the Secretary of National Defense," declared Sheinbaum at her morning conference.
In his address to Congress on Tuesday, Trump asserted that his administration has intensified the fight against cartels, stating: “We eliminated the head of the most important cartel in Mexico,” referring to the operation conducted on Sunday in Tapalpa, Jalisco, where the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) was killed during a confrontation.
Sheinbaum reiterated that in the operation no U.S. forces were involved on the ground and that Washington's collaboration was limited to the exchange of intelligence information.
The president also revealed that she had a phone call with Trump on Monday, a day after the operation, which she described as brief and cordial.
“He called me the day before yesterday, an eight-minute call, to ask me what’s happening in Mexico, how things are going,” he recounted. He explained that during the conversation, he detailed that Mexico had “intelligence assistance from the Government of the United States” and that the bilateral coordination “was going very well.”
When asked whether the statements made by the U.S. president could have an electoral background, given that elections are taking place in November in the United States, Sheinbaum responded that “we know President Trump,” but insisted that the information provided by his government is accurate.
The operation against Mencho, considered one of the most wanted drug traffickers in Mexico and the United States, sparked a wave of violence in several regions of the country, with roadblocks and attacks on public and private facilities.
Despite the differences in the public narrative regarding the authorship of the operation, both governments have stressed the importance of cooperation in security matters to address the criminal organizations operating in the region.
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