MEXICO CITY, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday denied that her government has agreed with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to launch a joint operation against drug cartels.
"There is no agreement with the DEA. The DEA issued the statement, we don't know on what grounds. We have not reached any agreement with the DEA, nor have any of the (Mexican) security agencies," the president said during her morning press conference at the National Palace.
"It is important to clear this up," she said, "because any joint communication is done jointly. We do not validate anything issued by a United States government agency that has not been consulted with the Mexican government."
"The only thing we have is a group of police officers from the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection who were conducting a workshop in Texas. That's all there is, there's nothing else," she said.
She noted that the two governments have been working for several months toward a security agreement, coordinated by the Mexican Foreign Ministry.
"This agreement is about to be signed, which is fundamentally based on sovereignty, mutual trust and territorial respect, that is, that each party operates within its own territory, and coordination without subordination," she added. ■
